


The Legend Of Monkkaebi

by baksugom



Category: Monsta X (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Bickering, Crack, F/M, Funny, Goblin Parody, Goblin!Shownu, Inspired by Goblin (K-drama), M/M, Magic, Minor Character Death, Original Plot, Parody, deity!jooheon, dukhwa!minhyuk, euntak!kihyun, grimreaper!wonho, i might twist this story more than I expected, im a ho for hyungwonho hohoho, kihyun is a photographer, lots of cameos, or i guess so, secretarykim!changkyun, some joohyuk if you squint, sunny!hyungwon, throwback mnet goblin parody, trust me we all need a showki goblin au in our lives, we stan adopted parents showki :), yeah bts gonna take some role in here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-02-04 10:19:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 30,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18602539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baksugom/pseuds/baksugom
Summary: "When a powerful desire indwells in things touched by mortal souls,. . . they become goblins.A blade smeared with blood from countless battles was enchanted with a powerful desire bedewed with its master's blood.Only the goblin's bride shall contain the power of withdrawing the blade.Once drawn, everything will return to peace, as the spirit dusts into ashes."ora showki goblin au nobody asked for :^)





	1. The Morning

**Author's Note:**

> This gonna be a ride lmao watch me pause in the middle of publishing this long ass au. :'^)
> 
> 60% Goblin.  
> 30% Monsta X  
> The rest of 10% is all the randomness this multi-trash can think of. 
> 
> Letgitit.

 

**[Characters Images](https://twitter.com/syuriji/status/1121589653012795392) **

 

 

 

 

_"When a powerful desire indwells in things touched by mortal souls,_

_. . . they become goblins._

_A blade smeared with blood from countless battles was enchanted with a powerful desire bedewed with its master's blood._

_Only the goblin's bride shall contain the power of withdrawing the blade._

_Once drawn, everything will return to peace, as the spirit dusts into ashes."_

 

. . .

 

"-Some malicious oracle it was. Hence when goblins are brought back, they would be anywhere and everywhere, yet nowhere to be seen. Even now they could be-" The old man sitting with his back crumbs down, wrinkles vivid in his eyes, abruptly stop when the young lady in front of him is giggling in pitch.

In his grumpy and annoying manner, he lightly growls "What are you laughing at?"

The red coat young lady smiles, mimicking his storytelling tone, "When the goblin is finding its loved one...which happens to be _me_." she huffs a bubble of white frost in the air, "Is this what you were about to say?"

"Hey, back in my day, I was a man of the town, alright? I might seem all scrunched up and old but what if I won't be here tomorrow? You never know."

The lady smiles brightly then, "I envy you then, so lucky."

The man is taken aback, "maybe I'm too old for my look, I shouldn't have said that to a single mother."

"Tsk, you're mean."

"Mean? How much of a discount did I just gave you from cleaning your shoes? The man who left you is the mean one, tsk." The old man nags, yellow teeth show with little teasing sound in his voice, mostly for annoyment. His dimples are entirely on display.

"I guess you're right." Looking down at the man who is still rubbing polish on her creamery shoe, and sighs. "I feel pity, you know."

"What is there to feel pity?" the old man says mockingly.

"Well, it supposes to be a romantic story, yet a tragic curse, in searching for the love of their lives just to withdraw the blade and die." she looks down at the dark wooden shoe box on the ground, right next to the man and peeks inside; there is a shiny ring sparks up, showing a gleaming emerald rim with gold decors in the center.

"The creator sure is evil."

The man now chuckles, "It has always been that way. He is selfish and envious, always so self-centered."

The lady looks at him in sympathy, "...sounds exactly like someone I know." she gathers her bag and nods in gracious, "I guess I'll be going then! Thank you for the story." She gets up and dusts around her pants.

"Make sure to be around here next time, yeah? I will be back." she smiles brightly, and bows to him.

Right when she was about to leave, the old man abruptly grabs her hand, staring into the lady's eyes as if he is reading her soul.

"At the moment of life and death, make a wish with a powerful desire. A soft-hearted creator might grant you that wish."

That was the last moment she witnessed the old bootblack.

 

 

\---

 

1968, Paris.

 

Along the side of the walking path, a khaki suited man slowly patrolling along the road, head up high and confidently marching forward, chestnut hair seems to part on sides, fluffing in the chilly weather, yet neatly. His full figure spreads out an aura of such assurance and promise, as he stops before turning to his right, a bright brown door in view, and the man turns his back toward the house.

The door suddenly opens, as if on a rush, a little boy dashes out of the brickly walled house and comes to a stop with an arm settles before his way.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The man says, voice full of certain. "If you run away from home, you'll be even more miserable. You won't be able to see your mothe-"

"Who are you?" The boy cuts him short, as he stares up, "Are you Korean?" _Rude_.

The man reaches for a flower pot nearby, sets it in between the younger boy's porch, unbothered.

"That does not matter right now," he bites back, "it's _complicated_ , now that you must choose the right path," the man stares at him deeply in the eyes, as he continues, "you can say it with determination, loud and clear, 'You adopted me now that I am your son, please take care of me well.' Ask your omma for help."

"Just tell her that it hurts-"

"What bullshit are you telling me?" The boy is now full of rage, his face seems to be more frustrated with split lips and swollen eye, he _growls_ in annoyance. "Move."

"A light wound like that couldn't kill you, kiddo."

The boy startled, he immediately checking his bruised arm which was _hidden_ behind the long sleeve shirt.

"Who are you?" he asks in bewilderment.

"Look straight to their face and tell them, can you do it?"

"But what if he beats me to death? Will you take responsibility?" Now that the man keeps confronting him, the boy has no other choice besides responding back.

"That's why I broke his ribs for you." The man now looks at him with playfulness in the eyes.

As on cue, a white man runs out of the house, blindly fast as he tripped himself over the white flower pot of freesias.

 _Nailed It_ , the suited man silently gives himself a small high-five behind his back, no one notices.

He now nods predictably, holds out a bag of baguettes, offering it to the little boy.

"This is your lunch, promise me to talk to your parents and go to school after."  
"By the way, the kid that likes to hide your pen is the blonde girl on your left, not the boy that sits behind you."  
"In the math test, the free-response question answer should be 7, not 9, that's the only one you answered wrong."

"Who the hell are you?!" The boy now looks at him in shock and more astonishment. He silently studies the built suited man up and down while drowning in his own confusion.

This man is granting him an unexpected comfort.

"I root for your luck!" The goblin pats his shoulder, dodging the doubtful question as he quietly walks away.

The figure fades into the crowded downtown peers, albeit his disappearance, the boy's eyes' never leave the shadow, acknowledges at the moment how his life would blessedly change afterward.

 

 

\---

  
_"He is..._

_the water, the fire, the wind,_

_the light, and the dark._

_For once he was,_

_...a human."_

 

The sworn and bloody blade held in the hand of a broad soldier, as he breathed in an uncomfortable position. Dead bodies scattered all over the ground like ants' hole beyond water. Each life reached for survival, and so do Hyunwoo, struggling in pain as he trimmed along the pathway toward the quarter.

His men were dying, bit by bit.

Arrows were flying, squirreled through men's hearts, looking beyond the terrible scenario as Hyunwoo swallowed, his _not-really-hydrated_ body seemed to have sagged, and his shoulders felt heavy, but this was not the end.

Crying horses and burned flags sparked through the air like a summer night festival, except, this was a war, containing so much cruel and so much grieves.

_Many might consider him as divine._

But Hyunwoo has never admitted himself as one, albeit more enemies raised, and more of his men died, the captain had then lifted his own weapon, diving into the dungeon called death.

 

_"He was covered in red blood, as he attacked the enemies._

_He was a divine warrior."_

 

And true to their words, he did _not_ die.

 

As he killed each man, his blade drew more blood, with determination in his eyes, the lifeless and dark tone reflected the current fight, Hyunwoo surged up to a nearby horse, and led forward, with a mind of purpose, cutting off the enemy's general's head. Accurate and firm.

Under the closing instants, triumph raised, and he knew he had won. Men cried in celebration, but many mourned for the death of his soldiers. Holding up the lifeless cut-off head of the poor man whom he just ended, was a terrifying scene.

Yet, all he felt was numbness, as if being drugged, Hyunwoo exhausted, the thick armor now gave him the massive push. The man fell down, following up were his drippy eyelids as he got swallowed by darkness.

 

\---

 

  
The ride back to the palace is exhausting, if not for the cheers and glees the people spread to surround the town, Hyunwoo doesn't even know how much can he keep himself up.

As men and women scatter into paths, they cry "Salute General!" "Salute General!" in happiness, Hyunwoo looks around in pride and _satisfaction_.

And as men and women bow down to him and shout out "Mansae!" in respect, Hyunwoo convinces himself what he did was the right thing, and he smiles in relief.

Stopping in front of the palace's gates, his secretary orders the guards to open the gate as the man proudly yells "The victorious General has returned!"

But he is stopped before saying something else, one of the guards shortly cuts him off, "Son Hyunwoo, take off your gears and receive the royal command." Blocking the gate view along with other guards.

Everyone is shocked before the guard's words, looking back and front in discontent, the command is too sudden, leaving the people in aha of disappointment. Hyunwoo's emotion conflicting, in an instant, he realizes what about to come under the harshly unexpected words.

His secretary, by the name of Yihyung, is now furious of the guard's attitude.

"How dare you say so to the General," as he heaves his sword, "Say that again."  
"Calling the almighty General's name from a lowly soldier like you, is this how you would like to die?"

The guard's eyes full of will yells out loud, ignoring the mantra of one secretary,

"Son Hyunwoo, the rebel leader, take off your gears!"

"You son of a-"

 

Hyunwoo stops him, the old man who looks as if he nearly to murder the _whole_ kingdom, who silently supports him and protects him, as he holds the secretary's sword down before an event could occur, which could lead to worse situations.

Hyunwoo then calmly says, "I heard you the first time. Wait." And quickly takes off all of his armors.

Following up were his men, under the honor and respect, all taking off their gears, frustrated, but with _admiration_.

"Is that good?" He demands.

The guard looks at him, voices out orders as if splitting skin in acid,

"You have committed high treason, bite your sword, kneel down, and receive the royal command."

"I shall cut your tongue!" His secretary yells, "how could he commit treason? Are you insane? HAVE YOU GONE NUTS?" His eyes are wide in disappointment.

Above, dozens of soldiers aiming multiple arrows toward Hyunwoo's group of men, startling them like fishes in the drained pond.

The General has no choices. His secretary looks at him in sympathy, and he bites his lips in madness. Hyunwoo draws his sword out as it's shining and reflecting the current picture beyond him.

"Move aside, I will talk to His Majesty myself."

"Prisoner Son Hyunw-"

"If you try to stop me, you will die. Move!"

 

Even the guards have to cower under his tone, Hyunwoo was the General for a reason.

 

He steps toward the gates, neglecting the disagreement in the guards, arrows release from the behind as his men fall down one by one. With no mercy, guards shoot down sharp arrows to disapprove him and his stubbornness.

In mere seconds, the survived soldiers died down in patterns, arrows struck through bodies, blood smear around the street in puddles, and Hyunwoo's eyes widen in shock.

His secretary rises up although one arrow struck through his right arm, draws out his sword in agony, he cries,

"We have fought 3 days and 3 nights in His Majesty's name. We are just returning from the pitch of destruction. How dare you treat us like this?!"

As on cue, a voice echoes out from the inside, "open up the gates." The large wooden gates split to sides, slowly and steadily.

"You wait here," Hyunwoo commands his secretary.

"I'll be back."

  
\---

 

  
The General walks inside with the sword in hand as he approaches the palace before him.

Upon the stairs leading to the inside of the palace, a beautiful young lady in light blue dang-ui looking down at him in worrisome. There is a golden flowery crown on top of her head as her hair bun up nicely, she is gorgeous.

He watches in front.

The young king dresses in his bright red gonryongpo with ikseongwan on his head, neatly, as he looks down to the man who he named as a traitor a moment ago, sitting on top of his throne, mighty with power.

His eunuch approaches from the right, whispering soft but wicked words into his ears,

"Your Majesty reigns over his people, and it's said Your Majesty is controlled by divinity. However, this divinity refers to Son Hyunwoo."

Hyunwoo steps closer to the stairs, closer to the king.

"The news of his victory deceives your people, and his power is continuously a threat to the royal family.

You must, govern strictly over this man."

  
Slowly stepping along the flatted path, along the stairs, leading him toward the king.

 

\- - -

 

_"He clearly saw the enemies' swords which threatened his life._

_However, he did not see the jealous young king's fear._

_He did not realize..._

_...that it was the sharpest sword..._

_which threatened his life."_

 

Hyunwoo looks up at the young lady closer and smiles at her, they were only a few feet apart now that he walks up, she smiles back at him. He couldn't tell if it is a reassurance smile or a pathetic smile, just light, like the water surface, but he doesn't say anything. He looks up at the king.

_That child would be the pathetic one._

"Do you have to go this far?" asks Hyunwoo.

"That's why you should come no more." responses the king, "Stop."

"Whatever it may be, stop.

If you die now as a rebel, I will let everyone live but you."

 

The young lady, witnesses the words of the king, looks down in sorrow, defeated.

 

He continues, "however, if you take another step, I will kill everyone, and lay their bodies before you the moment you take that step." he looks sharp, for the time, there was no trade of being naive.

 

The General sighs, this is not how he gets destroyed, while in deep tolerance, the lady speaks,

"Go ahead, General."

Hyunwoo looks at her, worrying colors in his eyes.

she continues, "I am fine." Sends him a nod of reassurance, "Go on."

Her big brown chocolate eyes reflect his, she then closes her eyes with a smile on her full cherry lips.

The King looks immediately tense, so do Hyunwoo, "But Your Highness, I-"

Opening those delicate eyelids, she responses "I know." her eyes full of certain, "I truly understand." She sighs, "if this is the end...then it shall be my destiny."

The King is now infuriated, with every word she said, he grips his hand harder.

"You should go. Do not stop. Take your steps toward His Majesty."

Hyunwoo is upset, but he is powerless, taking her speech into consideration, he does not has any other choice, true to her words.

_One step._

_Two steps._

His blade glows under the gloomy sun.

_Three steps._

The young lady is on the edge of crying.

_Four steps._

"He has committed his crime, kill everyone in the family!" growls the King. "THIS IS MY COMMAND."

Directly, a wooden arrow flies through the sky and strikes into the young lady's heart.

As she slowly falls down, Hyunwoo steps become heavier.

_Five steps._

_Six steps._

Heads are falling down, innocent people ended their lives under the unfairness of treachery. His family, his servants, his men.

As the guards pull out the last group of servants, he stops, recognizing one of the previous men who are about to get killed.

 

The eunuch suddenly stops them all.

 

"What are you doing? Make him kneel down." He yells, as one guard comes up, and slashes his sword into the General's knee.

The General stumbles down, hand stabs the blade into the ground as a stand, face bloody, breath heavy, looking up at the king in full contempt.

His secretary runs up, breathing tiredly, yells his name and bows down in front of the young lady's still body in desperation.

"Your Majesty! How can you do this?"

"Aren't you afraid of the divinity?!" he cries loudly.

The King responses in disgust, "The divinity is not on your side."

Hyunwoo stares at him in hatred.

 

"The glaring eyes of the criminal are troubling His Majesty." speaks the eunuch.

"Behead the criminal!"

 

At the moment which the guard raises his sword, the General holds up and slashes through his chest, quick and clean.

As the guard falls down in terrifying, he wearily speaks "The task is not yours."

 

His secretary runs up to him, breathing in shaky breathes, "General."

Hyunwoo then turns to the old man, gently says "I'd like you...to take care of my end." As he shakingly passes his blade to the man, who has been loyal to him from the start, the ladder holds tight, in understanding, and obeys,

"I shall follow your order." Tears fill his eyes instantly, he steps up in front of the General, whispers,

"Please forgive me."

"I will follow you soon."

Hyunwoo's back arches down as the blade stabs through his heart. Lips gush of blood, dripping down waterfalls beneath the mourns and cries of his secretary.

One guard now steps up, dashes his sword through the secretary's neck, as the man falls down, lifeless.

 

"No one shall retrieve the traitor's dead body.

Leave it in the fields so that animals can feed on it.

When his body appeases the beasts' hunger,

his only worth will be realized.

This is the King's orders!"

 

The hateful words spill out from the dark lips of the eunuch echo through the palace ground. Dragging drastically long as the King silently walks away.

Looking back, he notices Her Highness' idling body on the ground, blood puddle surrounds her.

The emerald ring rests peacefully on her dainty finger. She shreds one last teardrop before death took her away.

The last thing in the General's sight would be the ignorant and foolishness that was granted from the King, in the sense of uselessness. The young man, his King, is too weak to control his kingdom.

 

Hyunwoo closes his eyes and falls down.

\---

 

The day after, mourns and grieves sniff out in sadness.

"May the soul of the General rest in peace.

Bless his soul.

May his soul rest in peace."

The cries of the servants who survived echo on the grassy field, where the body of the stagnant General lies, his bloody blade _sinks_ through his chest.

Hyunwoo's eyelids open slightly, in a maze of his own, his eyes reflect the cloudy sky as dried blood stick in his skin. The mourning seems to fade away at some time, leaving the man into a fogging stage, and finally, to the point of unconsciousness.

 

_"Do not pray for anyone._

_No one is listening_

_At noon, when the sun shone the brightest,_

_he was killed by his master's sword."_

 

Son Hyunwoo drowned in the pitch of darkness at the age of twenty-seven.

 

\---

 

 

Seoul, 1993

 

The quiet steps in the middle of a foggy path leading the black suit man toward the street. In was early in the morning, the weather doesn't seem to cooperate any better, sensing the atmosphere in some sort of blurriness.

The man is holding his hat, silently staring at the street, in predict of an upcoming event, and steps slowly through the crosswalks.

A smashing sound is heard, as he looks to his right, a white car is bending in half, leaving a swallow hole in the front side. It is crashing into him. But he is _unfazed_.

The driver peeks out of the car, back hurts, head's dripping blood and some neck pains as he curses the black suit man for standing on his way.

"Hey, don't you look at the street when you walk? Wanna die?"

That until he walks to the front of the car and shocks, seeing how his car _morphed_ and broke into pieces, he is terrified of what he's seeing, and of the man. The grim reaper turns around, facing the man, calmly says,

"A boar. You bumped into a boar." he looks deep into the man's eyes, making the latter in chaos.

After, as if being hypnotized, the man's eyes droop down, and he repeats the sentence like a mantra, under-monotone.

"I just hit a boar, I just hit a boar, I just hit a boar..."

Putting back on the fedora, the black-suit man fades away, leaving the clueless driver standing next to his crashed car, lost.

Another man drives his car nearby stops abruptly and gets out to ask the man if he is okay.

The bloody head man speaks shakingly, "I-I just hit a boar."

"A b-boar? In the middle of the _city_??" The other man asks in bewilderment.

As on cue, a scream is heard, and some people pass by spot a woman body peeks out from the car trunk, they run toward it to help, calling for the police.

There is one woman who seems to be confused by the pass by-ers' action, remarkably, she walks closer to the car, and yelps, realizing the hand that peeks out from the trunk is matching with _hers_ , the wedding ring that she wears every single day.

"Why am I..." she speaks in frightened, hand pointing at the dead body, shakingly. "Why am I here?"

 

"Im Soo Young, 24 years old." The melodic voice of the black-suit man leaps up, and the woman startles, staring up at the ravenette man who is now standing next to her.

"Born on September 22th, 1969."

"Died at 10:20 AM, on February 15th, 1993."

"The cause of death is suffocation."

The man bends down to her, his fedora bends slightly to the side, "It's you, right?"

 

Clashes from all the unforeseen events, the woman couldn't utter any word.

 

\---

 

 

"Drink this."

"T-thank you."

The young lady slowly reaches to the teacup, midair where the ravenette offers her.  
  
"This will remove your memories from your life."

The lady startles, her attention entirely turns to the black-suited man after a good ten minutes of _'ooh'_ s and _'ahh'_ s towards the decor of the place.

"Do I have to?" the lady asks hesitantly.

"Well, unless you don't have any regret I'm not forcing you," The reaper catches a slight moment that she whines, yeah, definitely lots of regrets.

"Have you drink this before?"

"Ask me what's my name." The grim reaper almost looks annoyed. Almost.

"Y-yes?"

"Ask."

"O-oh, so... w-what's your name?" she asks, even more hesitant.

"I don't know. I don't know my name."

"Oh? O-ohhhh, I see..." the young lady now looks down at her teacup and sighs.

 

The primary purpose of this is simple; the grim reaper does not wish for any ghost or soul to come to him and complain about their previous lives.

He's smiling from the inside if you can imagine it.

 

_That's right kid, drink your tea._

\---

 

 

Wonho is cleaning his teacups.

Stop.

Turn left.

He can clearly see a tall and _buffed-piece-of-a-goblin_ , from the outside of his clear windows, through his tea shop.

"Goblin?"

Shownu is walking toward a mansion.

_But hold up._

Stop.

Look right.

"Grim Reaper?"

Well, he's looking at a wall of bricks.

But what he sees is a wooden house that is secretly hidden from the mortals’ eyes.

"What a vulgar hat you're wearing." he shakes his head.

"V-vulgar? My hat? You-" Wonho stops himself before he about to burst, no one has ever dare insult his _babe_ like that, Hyunwoo just shrugs and keeps walking.

"It's a fucking fedora!"

 

Wonho is wounded, and Shownu ignores the ladder’s distressed.

 

\---

 

 

Shownu doesn't really remember the last time he was in this house, probably about twenty-five, twenty-six years?

 

_Sure do a long time ago..._

 

Each step that he creates making the dust around the mansion form into circle shapes, _powerful_. After all these years, he never changes. So do this mansion.

All the candles that are spreading around the place lit up almost at the same time as Shownu snaps his finger in a solid tone, creating a harmonic moment, fascinated the atmosphere in the hall once again. This mansion has been _abandoned_ for too long.

"Sir!"

A chuckle echoes from behind him, Shownu turns to greet with the smiley man that he hasn't seen in years, he misses him a lot.

"Seunggi hyung!"

Lee Seunggi asks excitedly, "how have you been?" Shownu notices all those wrinkles forming around his eyes, the last time he had seen the man was when the latter in his mid-thirties.

"Well, you know me, I go here and there, all the same." Shownu smiles back, showing his trademark goofy smile.

"How have you been, hyung?"

Seunggi’s smile softens, "You see, I'm all old and wrinkle, not as strong as I was ahaha..." he ends the conversation with a jokey laugh, it's awkward, but Shownu doesn't mind.

"Is this the uncle you always talk about, grandpa?" A little boy with a bunhead and yellow uniform pops out from behind his old friend's back, he frowns.

"He doesn't look dashing like how you always described."

"Hey, watch your mouth," Seunggi warns him. "This is my grandson whom I wrote about in the letters, introduce yourself."

"To this ahjussi?"

_Why are there so many ignorant kids these days?_

"You must be Minhyuk." Shownu responses instead, he smiles kindly at him. "I will be your uncle, your brother, your son, and grandson." he leans down, face-to-face with the boy, "Nice to meet you."

"Huh? What does that mean? Grandpa, this ahjussi is weird, Minmin don't like him."

"Watch your mouth." Seunggi silently growls, "My sincerest apologies, he is spoiled since he's the only son after four generations."

"It's all good." Shownu nods at his friend,

Then he looks back at the boy, but realizes something about the kid, he has seen him before, someone he knows, "you..."

"Me? What?" The boy stares at him with his big eyes, confuses.

"There was a man born at the end of Goryeo who died in a foreign land, he's your ancestor."

"What?"

"He looks just like you."

"How?" The boy bluntly asks, "Was he good-looking?"

"Tsk, watch your mouth," Seunggi warns him again. "I don't know why he is so rude, I apologize-"

"It's alright, nobody in your family had ever disappointed me nevertheless." Shownu is irritated, but he pulls out the fakest smile he could muster, the smile of reassurance, toward the child.

_Yeah, definitely reassurance._

Seunggi doesn't buy it anyways.

"Ahjussi, why do you keep talking disrespectfully to my grandpa?

You wanna die?"

"Uh..."

"Watch your mouth, Lee Minhyuk!"

 

  
\---

_*flashback*_

 

"Sir..."

"My apologies for coming so late,

I've been ill..." The old man cried out in sorrow, looking at the bloody blade that was stabbing into the dark soil.

"...all this time."

Following him was a small young boy, dirty and stained, both old and young were poor servants, who served Son's family wholeheartedly.

"My time has come. Therefore, I am sending my grandson to serve you, sir." the man said weakly.

"G-grandpa... Why are you calling this sword 'sir'?" The little boy asks, he was nervous.

As the old man was about to respond, lightning shot through the cloudy night angrily, startled both figures into the ground. The boy looked terrified, and the poor old man was on the edge of faint.

The blade was _moving_ by itself.

Echoing a superior voice, boomed in the sky intensely but calm, their eyes were watching the clouds, which lived one existence, _God_.

 

_"The souls of your people are saving you._

_However, the blood of thousands is on your sword._

_The blood of your enemies, who were also descendants of deities._

_You shall be immortal,_

_and watch your loved ones die._

_You will not forget one single death._

_This is the award that I give you, and the punishment you shall receive."_

 

Hyunwoo sat up from the ground, a green blade pierced through his chest.

 

_"Only the goblin's bride shall remove the sword._

_Once the sword is removed, you shall return to ashes and be at peace."_

 

His blood-smeared-face healed in seconds, hands cracked, as he swallowed down those final words. This was the cruelest curse a man could ever receive, he smirked at the ridiculousness of the situation.

 

Hyunwoo was now a goblin.

 

_How absurd._

 

"There is somewhere I must go." He immediately turned to the two servants, the old man whispered a shakily ' _y-yes sir_ ' while the little boy was noiselessly terrified at the scenario.

\---

 

 

Standing in front of the palace, Hyunwoo felt a thrill of discomfort.

 

His hands were dripping down thick blood, he whipped them into his clothes, ignoring the dead body of the eunuch on the ground.

 

He took a step closer to the King's room, where his body lied down, wrapped in gold fabrics. Today was the day of his Majesty's funeral.

 

"Seems like... I was too late."

 

\---

 

 

Hyunwoo walked toward the small rocky grave of his servant, the little boy was crying on top of it, hands scratched and slightly bleeding, he had been buried the old man's body the whole day.

Hyunwoo stared at the grave, rooted in feelings.

"You must be my first punishment." The goblin bent down, rubbing his hand on the rocks that were stacked on top of the grave. He sighed, looking at the boy who cried in despair a moment ago now full with determination in the eyes, stared at him.

"Sir, let me bow to you, I promise you with all my heart, I shall serve you till my death."

_Was this how my fate will be?_

"It was grandpa's dying wish."

_Blinding by revenge..._

_I did not ask how you were doing, my foolish act._

"Will you still be my servant, after what happened?" he asked shakingly.

"Will you do as what you said?"

The boy quietly nodded, eyes swollen and _tired_.

\---

 

The goblin did not need to stay back in Joseon any longer, but he was low on budget. That was why traveling on a pirate ship would be the best choice to escape out of this rusty kingdom.

_Or so Hyunwoo thought._

Everything would be fine, really, everything would go splendidly excellent if those pirates on the ship didn't decide to throw his little servant into the deep sea and surrounded Hyunwoo in wanting to capture him as a slave.

The laughs of those nasty thieves booming around the deck so carefreely like they assumed this was the chance to get some money for their ripped pockets, the present for their own. Merely believing that the kid won’t make any money, _heartlessly_ , they tossed him away like some empty whiskey butt.

And now Hyunwoo was fucking _furious_.

"Do you know what happens to humans who are worse than brutes?" He asked when they all blocked him from saving the poor servant.

A sudden storm smashed down into their ship making all men panicked.

"What the-" one of them yelled.

Waves curled up in agony, screaming at them in the sound of death. The ship shook, the bell rang loudly in the mid of the ocean, shooting warnings to the cowardly pirates.

Hyunwoo stood up from the small porch of the ship, eyes drilled holes with hell pits, as dark as it could ever be.

"Their face judgment by an infuriated divinity."

In a blink of an eye, the lightning struck through the ship deck, aggressive winds madly bent the sails into all directions.

Men fell down, sliding slowly toward the ocean surface as one of the pirates screamed, "I-it, it's the goblin!"

Hyunwoo didn't even care what they said, lines of rope strapped around the pirates' feet, and flung them out of the ship. The ship was about to drown anyway, for the first time in his life, he felt content when executing people. ( _Read: garbages_ )

Another man screamed, his voice cracked as he begged, "S-save me!"

The goblin looked at him, not one bit of altruistic emotion in his eyes,

"It's too late."

Hyunwoo pulled his glowing green blade from his hand, harshly, as he slammed it into the wooden deck of the ship. The force knocked all men out.

All leaves were the goblin and his blade.

\---

 

Seoul has become the city that Shownu loves to travel to. He honestly hates staying in one place, permanently they say, and he wishes to visit new places, but this is where he would often travel to, probably because it is where he started with and where he is ended up with.

After all, Seoul has _changed_.

It seems odd to find one drunken man sips on his beer in the middle of the night on top of the highest building in the whole city so carelessly, but no one knows, anyway.

What day is it today anyway? Ah, that's right, _it's Valentine's Day._

He reminds himself the same message for probably six times in an hour already, he couldn't understand, but too unbothered to care of why he is caring about this day so much.

Definitely, it's about his bride. He thinks back of what the god said from decades ago, he is no longer sure when would be the day of his death. No one has appeared to be the goblin's bride. _Yet_.

He could hear various sounds of events that are happening around the city; the sirens, the cheers, the babies crying out loud, hell, even whispers and small talks.

Sipping his beer, Shownu sighs, "It's good to be back."

 

 

_*BOOM*_

 

 

The heavy screeching sounds from the car tires echoing to his ears, he spots a woman lies on the snowy ground of a nearby skating stadium.

 

There are small grunts from the body, the woman cries softly, blood oozing out from her body, leaving a giant puddle of red snow, "please save me, anyone." she whispers.

 

Shownu continues on sipping his beer. He decides to ignore her prays and looks around the view in front of him. It is not his decision to interfere with others’ lives.

 

 _"At the moment of life and death, make a wish with a powerful desire. A soft-hearted creator might grant you that wish."_ the old man's words silently rustle in the lady’s mind.

"Please, anyone, if you hear my prayers..."

 

The goblin sighs.

 

 

"Dear divinity in the high sky, please save me." the lady's voice turns weaker each word she breathes, she is exhausted, but she doesn't want to give up. “I don't ask for more, there is something I must do, help me..."

 

Shownu closes his eyes, his head rises up.

 

_This will be the last time._

\---

 

 

The goblin flies toward the red puddle and looks beneath him.

It's very blurry, she couldn't see much, but she _knows_ someone is next to her. The lady raises her head weakly as she cries, "h-help me."

 

Shownu watches how the weak woman is, how she struggles under the cold snow and how much she tries to gain the very bit of her consciousness. She's fragile but _strong_.

 

"I am that ' _anyone_ '" he says, his eyes mysteriously look at her, observing.

 

Her eyes draw in recognition as she begs, "please! Please help me." It might seem pathetic, but Shownu knows well how much in pain is she, the small lady even has the strength to hold on his pant, although slightly. He is amazed.

 

"Well..." the goblin breathes,

"...It is not my job to meddle with the life and death of mortals."

 

The lady cries in distress, "Oh please! P-please help me, I cannot die like th-this, at least n-not now." She reaches toward her stomach, rubbing it carefully. She has lost everything, momentarily, but this is the only reason she wants to live, she wants to protect her baby, she doesn't want to _die,_ not yet _, not yet-_

 

"I see, you are asking for another life to be saved."

 

Shownu looks at her in sympathy.

 

"Y-yes, please, please help..." The lady's eyes slowly drip down, _it hurts, everything hurts._

 

This must be her limit, the lady releases a choking sound, and she gasps difficulty each second passes by.

 

Shownu is in deep thoughts. The man silently watches her until she knocks her last breath. Maybe this is it, he shouldn't trespass with the fate of a human, he knows very well.

 

Yet despite what seems to be a logical decision, Shownu listens to his _feeling_. He decides to rescue her, there is no answer to his action, but he desires to do so, something is _convincing_ him. But as long as he wants to debate over his own mind, time is _limited_. Eventually, the goblin bends down to her and reaches his hand.

 

As he flicks his finger, following up is a cloud of powdery dust circle around the woman.

 

"You are very fortunate, to come across a soft-hearted deity.

 

I just don't feel like watching anyone dies tonight." he softly says.

 

In a trance of consciousness and unconsciousness, the hourglass of the lady spins, and in second, she is waking up in the single bed of her small apartment, she pushes herself up violently and gasps, shocks with what the divinity’s words.

 

As if everything is a dream, the lady chokes a sob and hugs her stomach dearly.

 

"I-I'm...I'm alive."

 

\---

 

  
There is blood, _lots_ of blood.

Wonho is sure that he's not hallucinating, honestly, can grim reaper even hallucinate? He knows he's not. The card says that there will be a dead woman names Yoo Jihyun here at 12:04 but besides the blood puddle there is no dead body. Nothing.

_Strange._

A dead body can't get up and walk by itself right? He has been working as a grim reaper for three decades already, that sounds impossible to him.

Unless...

_It couldn't be him, could it?_

\---

 

  
November 22th, 1993.

 ~~_"Is he the goblin's bride?"_ ~~  
~~_"Is he?"_ ~~  
~~_"He's marked."_ ~~  
~~_"He is! He is the goblin's bride."_ ~~  
~~_"It's him."_ ~~  
~~_"It's him."_ ~~  
~~_"It's really him."_ ~~

The whisperings don't quit, they creep through the walls of the white light in one hospital room endlessly, there is no beginning, there is no _stop_.

Shadows pop out of the window, and souls gather quietly from the back of the glasses, staring holes into the tiny figure that is now wrapped under the warm arms of his mother.

It is _terrifying_.

After ten months of stillness, the goblin's bride has been born.

\---

 

10 Years Later.

 

"What kind of chicken would you want for this year's birthday, Kihyun-ah?" Jihyun walks toward her son happily.

"Yangnyeom chicken? Bulgogi chicken? Or the spicy chicken?"

"Omma!" The young boy sits up from playing with the rocks, smiling at his mother, the red birthmark is vivid on his right shoulder, slipping out from under his white tee. Kihyun runs to her, the same expression on his face.

"Omma, can we have a party instead of a feast?"

"What's the difference?" His mother looks at him questioningly, he never requested anything for his birthday before.

"I want cake! I want to blow candles and make a wish instead of having chicken like every other year," he says brightly. "I think my wishes never work 'cuz we always ate chickens..."

His mother snorts, "Oh my gosh, really Kihyun? I've never thought of that, I only buy chicken because it's your favorite." she pats his head and grins. "Alright kiddo, If you want to, let's throw a party this year! With cake and everything."

"YAY! Omma you're the best!" Kihyun smiles at his mother with teeth on display, but suddenly, he yelps out loud and points toward a small corner of the street.

"Oh look omma, there's a puppy."

The woman turns around, confuses as she looks to where her son just points at, "what? Puppy?"

The boy skips to the corner where the pup is lying and pats its head softly, "hey puppy, whatchu doin' here?" He picks up a nearby fallen leaf and shows it to the little pup, "look at this, it's fall! And almost winter." he giggles, "Isn't it cool?"

There is _nothing_ , he's patting on the emptiness of air, the woman knows. Since the day of the incident, she knows that her son is _special_. He can see things that he shouldn't be seeing, he can touch them and talks to them. This seems horrifying, really, but she doesn't care, it's her son after all, and she loves him unconditionally.

The woman looks beyond the sky, the chilly wind passes through her coffee-colored hair gently, and she exhales a heavy breath, "I guess my time is about to come..."

 

\---

 

  
“Ah, what a tiring day.” Kihyun softly sighs, opening the door as he takes off his shoes and walks toward the living room.

"Omma, I got a perfect score on today's English test," he says gleefully, "I studied really really hard for it." The boy yawns a bit and pulls his backpack away from his small frame, his mother sits quietly at the coffee table, staring at him.

"Really?" she smiles,

"Yeah, omma, I'm really exhaus- oh my god, it's a cake!" Kihyun abruptly turns his head toward the table, right in the center there lies a small chocolate cake with slices of kiwi on top along with a small tag that says "Happy Birthday Yoo Kihyun." The candles set up around the cake nicely, the boy smiles in delight.

Kihyun asks excitingly, "We're having a party right now, omma?" as the boy leaps to the table, he couldn't hide his happiness, and even if he could, he doesn't want to.

"That's right, Happy Birthday Kihyun-ah." his mother nods tenderly, shakes her head towards the cake in front, which is where her son is sitting. "Light the candles and make a wish."

Her son hesitated, "Am I allowing to do so?" he looks at her carefully, his mother nods, "Of course, you are old enough to do this."

"That's right! I'm eleven years old now." He speaks with joy, "I aced my test, this is a piece of cake."

His mother laughs, "where did you learn that phrase?"

"It's a secret." He looks at her playfully before lighting up the candles, "I'm good at reading people, remember? I know I have the sexiest brain-"

Kihyun abruptly stops, _something is off_ , he notices the _light_ behind his mother.

"Omma..." his voice trembles,

"What's wrong? You should make your wish." Jihyun looks at him expectedly.

"N-no, no, you are not my omma." he looks at the lady in front of him like some sort of stranger, _this isn't right_. "Y-you, you are her soul, you're not my omma," he says with certainty now, gazing at the figure in front of him.

Her smile stops, and Jihyun now looks at her son in recognition, "So you can really see everything." The woman's emotion bursts out like bubbles. Jihyun sniffs softly and watches her son stops lighting the candles, "I wish you couldn't."

Kihyun is trying his best not to cry, his mother once told him that he should never cry regarding any situation, he really tries his best not to shed any tears right now, at least not in front of his mother.

"Omma, did you die?" he asks shakingly, she nods.

"Th-then, where is your body?" he sniffs, _oh no, he's not supposed to cry_. "Wh-where are you now, o-omma?"

His tears are falling down drop-by-drop, corresponding to his mother's soul, "I'm at the hospital at the intersection." she breathes, "you will get a phone call from the hospital. When you get there, your aunt will come soon."

Kihyun listens to every word she says, this would be the last time for him to hear his mother.

"It's cold so remember to wear your scarf."  
"Ask the bootblack grandpa at the nearby neighbor to go with you. You know where he lives, right?"

The boy nods, "I have to go pass by the grocery store and turn into the right corner, his house is at the end of the alley."

Jihyun beams at her son although tears fill her eyes. "Good job, Kihyun-ah, as expected, my hamster's so clever."

"From now on, don't look into spirits' eyes, alright?" she gives the last warning.

The way she looks at him is too emotional that it makes something in him pops, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for being able to see them," he cries, "but I get to see you, and I'm thankful for it." He inhales through his stuffy nose. "...Just because I have the capacity of seeing them."

The boy clears his throat, and smiles gently, "But I will be okay, omma, don't worry, I'm eleven now, remember?"

His mother gasps out a cry, "that's right, my son is eleven years old now, he's big enough to do great things." she sighs, "Thank you so much...thank you for being able to see me," she closes her eyes, "thank you for being my son."

Both matches, their heavy breathes shuffle at the same time.

"Kihyun-ah, omma..., omma has to go now." she inhales, "I love you, my hamster."

Kihyun responses instantly, "M-me too, I love you too. Take care, omma."

"You must go to a good place, okay? You must."

_You must..._

Kihun watches the whole progress; the lit candles spread thick white smoke around his mother as her body blurs into the air, and once he blinks, her form sparkles like dust.

 

_As if she is not there from the start._

 

The boy immediately picks up the ringing phone sits right behind him.

"Hello? Is this Ms. Yoo Jihyun's house? I'm calling from Myongji Hospital located at-"

"I know, I'm coming."

He cuts off the call and runs to his mother's room, pulling out her baby blue scarf and wraps it around his neck.

He steps into the living room again and stares at the cake, wipes all of the tears on his swollen eyes.

 

"I won't make a wish."

 

The tiny figure’s making his way toward the door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heh.


	2. The Noon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoemagawd I can't fucking believe that I spent my dedicated time in studying for finals to write showki ff. But hey, not regretting tho. :'^)
> 
>  
> 
> Just to clarify to some readers if you're confused about the aging system in this au:
> 
> Shownu - died at 27  
> Kihyun - 26  
> Minhyuk - 30  
> Jooheon - 700  
> (he looks 26)  
> Wonho - died at 28  
> Hyungwon - 26  
> Changkyun - 24

It is pretty chilly outside, probably below 10 degrees Celsius already, Kihyun shivers from the sudden cold right after he opens the wood door.

 

He didn't expect to see a black shadow in his front porch.

 

"Ahjussi, who are you?" Kihyun scrunches his eyes at the mysterious shadow before he stops walking.

 

Much to the man surprised, he looks at the small figure and questions, "you can see me?"

 

Kihyun eyes go wide, realizing who the man is, he stutters, _darns it!_ "I-I think I forgot my scarf, lemme go back inside and-"

 

"You're wearing it, kid." The man points at him, then looking around the house, "Is this Yoo Jihyun's house? I went to the hospital but didn't see her body." he asks coldly.

 

"I-I..." The boy is pale, as he bores holes into the ground, silently terrified.

 

The grim reaper quickly recognizes the child in front of him, "Hold on, you were not supposed to be born," The man stares at him and steps closer. "Did you turn eleven this year by chance?"

 

"I'm sorry, s-suddenly I can't hear. I don't u-understand." Kihyun hiccups, he tries to turn his back away before the man is next to him, _before-_

 

"What are you doing over here?" Kihyun is confused by the man's question, _huh? What does he mean-_

 

"Leave the boy alone, grimmy." The bootblack is holding his wooden box of brushes and standing next to the fences, looking at the grim reaper in a warning.

 

Kihyun runs toward the old man in panic.

 

The grim reaper sighs, he glances back at the old man, "you are disturbing my work-"

 

"You are the nonsense one. Why would you bring up the distant past?"

 

"I'm trying to set things straight; at last, I don't have time right now."

 

The old man leaves out a chuckle, "Is he even on your list, though? The baby was nameless, but this boy has a name."

 

"You-"

 

"Show me the list if you have his name on it."

 

Kihyun grips into the old man's sleeve as both look at the black shadow beyond them.

 

"You know how much work I'll have to do if I go back to the Underworld and get a report," the grim reaper whines, but the old man doesn't stop his staring. At some time, the grim reaper gives up, he sighs deeply, "alright, fine, I'll see you again little boy." as he disappears into the starry night.

 

Kihyun comes back to his sense after a brief moment. He looks at the old man now that the shadow fades away,

 

"Grandpa, omma-"

 

The old man flicks his head, "Care for yourself first, kiddo. I've taken care of that. Your mother is in a safe place right now, but that man will look for you again. You better move out in three days."

 

"O-oh? If I move out, that ahjussi won't be able to find me?"

 

"Yes, on the funeral date, your aunt will be there with her kids, follow her and lives there until you can be independent." The old man sighs in thoughtfulness, "It might be hard for a while."

 

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

 

"Because you're a lovely boy." The bootblack takes out a dark-purple pair of shoes from inside the box and blows the dust on top of it, "here, happy birthday."

 

The boy gazes down at the violet polish shoes and confuses, "these shoes are too big for me. I can't take it."

 

The bootblack ruffs his head and smiles, and his two dimples genuinely show on his creased cheeks, "you will need it." he says.

 

Kihyun holds on the shoes dearly as the old man slowly walks away.

 

\---

 

15 Years Later 

  


"How is it going?" The black hair male stares at the man in front of him, who walks past in about three feet before turning around.

 

"Excellent. Wanna get a drink?"

 

"Definitely."

 

Jooheon hasn't talked to  _him_ for a while.

 

\---

 

"Hello? Samchon? Could you reactivate my card, please? I think grandpa blocked-"

 

_*beep beep beep*_

 

Jesus, it's fucking _two_ in the morning.

 

Shownu rubs his swollen eyes with his blanket and looks at the gray ceiling. He mentally notes to himself that Minhyuk's ass will be kick after the boy gets home.

 

The weather is currently winter, and it is too damn cold for Shownu to leave his bed, he secretly curses at the young boy and ignores whatever problem the kid has. But the moment when he closes his eyes and squeezes one of the hug pillows in his large king bed.

 

The goblin couldn't fall asleep.

 

_Fuck._

 

Maybe kicking Minhyuk's ass is too light for punishment, he should ban the boy from leaving the house next time.

 

Shownu sighs and forces himself up, ruffling his hair, he walks out of his room and toward the downstairs kitchen. The broad man opens the big silvery fridge and grabs a water bottle on the right side door of it.

 

It's currently _three_ in the morning.

 

It's too late, or maybe too _early_ , but Shownu is doing some workout.

 

He blames it on Minhyuk.

 

\---

 

"How come that dude always eat by himself?" One of the co-workers' whispering to his friends as they all secretly stare at the small figure that is sitting on the side of the cafeteria, alone.

 

"Bro, don't you know he can see ghosts?" Another man reminds him, pops inside the conversation with the face of eager to spill some _tea._   

 

"But sitting alone is a bit..."

 

"Why? If you pity him why don't you come and sit with him?" Another girl retorts back.

 

"Well, I-" Unable to answer the question, the man keeps himself quiet and looks at the red hair figure in sympathy.

 

"He scares me even more than the ghosts, at least ghosts are invisible." The man who responses to his talk shaking his body as if he is getting goosebumps. He rocks his head towards other co-workers in the table, "he looks calm like that, but he's probably dodging all the ghosts right now."

 

\---

 

Kihyun is debating between buying bulgogi chicken and yangnyeom chicken.

 

Suddenly it's raining, and he doesn't carry an umbrella with him.

 

_Climate change is such a bitch._

 

He's pretty sure today forecast did not mention any sudden downpour. Only surviving with a hoodie and his wallet, ( _he's glad that he didn't bring his camera with him._ ) Kihyun convinces he would catch a cold by tonight. But the redhead doesn't mind, he plugs in his headphones and listens to some poppy songs as he heads toward the chicken restaurant.

 

It is calmy all until someone decides to pop up.

 

~~_"Psh, hey kid."_ ~~

~~_"I heard that you're the goblin's bride."_ ~~

~~_"Do you wanna come and play with me?"_ ~~

 

Kihyun ignores it like how he always does.

 

~~_"Yeah? I'm so lonely and depressed right now."_ ~~

~~_"Yah! YAH!"_ ~~

~~_"Are you ignoring me?!"_ ~~

 

_geogi neo I fancy you amuna weonaji ana_

_Hey, I love you~_

 

Kihyun sings instead. It somewhat helps him distracts away from that creepy ghost. But after the while, the gray shadow flashes into his face and screams bloody hell.

 

~~_"YOU EVIL BIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!"_ ~~

 

"FUCK! What an ugly face!" Kihyun yelps in panic, his headphones shake violently out of his head, but he manages to catch it in time before it drops into a nearby puddle.

 

_Ah, save it._

 

But the ghost didn't leave him, instead, shoves her face close into his right cheek and whispers words as if she wants to seduce him.

 

~~_"See? I knew it you could see me, stop pretending, handsome boy."_ ~~

 

Kihyun tries to not look into her eyes.

 

The ghost makes some wicked high-pitched laugh as she hugs her stomach; she seems to be enjoying this too much. However abruptly, she looks at another shadow that is walking close to them and yelps.

 

 _~~"So the rumor is true! I-I'm sorry. I won't disturb you anymore!"~~ _and hurriedly disappears into thin air. Kihyun is confused, but he isn't complaining.

 

"Why did she apologize?"

 

He shrugs and sets his headphone back on anyways.

 

From afar, the broad man holds into a black umbrella as he calmly walks to the higher part of the pathway, one hand in his pocket, Shownu noiselessly enjoys the dripping from heaven.

 

\---

 

It is surprising that he didn't expect the rain today; _climate change is really something._

 

Shownu is on a trip to Goyang to visit one of his old friends. He used to the shortcut to get here, but the first thing he sees is pouring water on the rooftops. So secretly, he walks toward an empty street to pop out an umbrella from his hand.

 

Looking up to the cloudy sky, the man leaves out a long breath.

 

_I should have worn a scarf, too._

 

His eyes soon avert away from the bright light as he looks in front, wonderments as a small redhead figure that is swaying to the music a few steps away from him.

 

Shownu looks at the guy, and the guy is looking back at him.

 

This sounds like some _cliché_ shit.

 

The rain seems to stop midair to behold the moment of both meeting another. It's all substantial but gently, as if in slow-motion, two men pass by each other.

 

Shownu still looks at the redhead, but the guy is no longer looking at him.

 

_*_

_"First Kiss."_

_"First Ki'th'?"_

_*_

_"But it's right there!"_

_"What?"_

_"The sword, right there on your chest!"_

_*_

_"You promise?"_

_"Yeah. I always keep my promise."_

_*_

_"How do I look today?"_

_"Better than yesterday."_

_*_

_"You promised me you wouldn't leave me, YOU PROMISED!" the boy cries and hugs his body tightly, It's so painful to watch, to realize that he is the one who's breaking the boy's heart, although he vowed not to,_

_"I'm sorry-"_

_*_

 

Shownu shakes himself back to reality and comes to an instant stop.

 

_What the hell was that?_

 

The second he lays his eyes on the small body, sudden different flashbacks, _no_ , foreseen events pop inside his mind. The goblin is sure that he hasn't seen these happened before, and he doesn't know the little boy. Considering that when he looks at mortals' lives, he only sees their lives, but this one also has him in there, literally every single event that just passed by.

 

Shownu admits he's a friendly person, but he is the type that does not interact with others for more than ten minutes. There was this one time the old neighbor lady came and gave him rice cake since she just moved there. Although he responded politely, Shownu closed the door in the middle of their conversation _(read: her conversation),_  and he knows that he was an ass. _Instantly,_  she dislikes him.

 

But this boy, there is some familiar in him that Shownu couldn't quite tell, but he is sure this is his first time seeing the latter.

 

_Who is he?_

 

\---

 

The crackling noises boom up and down through the mansion create a warm and cozy feeling in the juvenile but ancient goblin, as he surrenders in deep thoughts, Shownu lost in his train of uneasiness without realizing the sun has already set.

 

Not until Seunggi walks toward him and lights on the cinnamon candles.

 

"What are you doing, sir?"

 

Shownu shakes himself out of his feelings and sighs, "I was just in deep thought."

 

Seunggi nods in acknowledge as he brings out a green folder and puts it in front of his master.

 

"This... I think it's time, sir."

 

"Already?" the goblin sighs.

 

He opens the folder to find out his passport, and an airplane ticket has already settled in there.

 

"Yes, sir." The man nods again before replying, appearing down in the moment, "It seems like if you leave right now, I won't be able to see you again in this lifetime."

 

"Are you trying to make me stay?" Shownu jokily says, he doesn't want to leave yet, Seunggi is like a brother to him, he feels somewhat _guilty_ as he looks at the man.

 

"That would be an honor if you stay." Seunggi smiles back. "But Minhyuk is already thirty, and he is about to inherit the hotel soon, I think it is better for you to get ready."

 

Shownu agrees, "You're right, hyung, you always right." he sighs, "thank you for always stay by my side."

 

The door abruptly opens, and a furious man walks in with a bank card in hand.

 

"Samchon! Why didn't you-" upon realizing his grandfather is also in the house, he looks at the man intensely,

 

"Haraboji! Did you block my card?!"

 

"My secretary did. Why?"

 

"I was with a friend! He had to pay for the drinks, and do you even know how humiliating that was? Why did you even make me rich when-"

 

Minhyuk is about to throw his two-page essay tantrums toward both of his uncle and grandfather before he stops himself after immediately seeing the paperwork and a passport on the wood table where Shownu sits.

 

"Hey! Samchon, what are those papers for? Are you leaving again?"

 

Shownu sighs, _he should have hidden these papers._

 

Seunggi about to smack Minhyuk's as he yells, "Stop being disrespectful to your uncle!"

 

But the young man stops him in time, and pointedly asks his uncle again.

 

"Is it about the bride thing again? Hold up man, if you want a foreign bride that bad then go get one, why can't you even say it? WHY CAN'T YOU SAY SO?" The young man points his hand toward the door dramatically.

 

Shownu doesn't even know if the kid is mad at him or just merely yelling because he's exasperated in general. So he decides not to respond.

 

"Exactly, what time you are you leaving? Where? With who? How long-"

 

_Nope, can't hear a thing, He's deaf._

 

\---

 

Kihyun walks out of the brown house, his black valise on the side, backpack on his small shoulders.

 

He looks back at the small dining table inside the house, it all sets fully with food, and most importantly, seaweed soup. It is his birthday today, after all, he doesn't care if his aunt will say anything. The man silently closes the door before walks out of the small house.

 

"This is the last meal that I made for you."

 

His Aunt's family has been abused him right after his mother died. They took all of his insurance money and house rent, and they even took his mother bank book away, yet when they lost it, he was the one to blame. Up to this point, Kihyun couldn't have a proper job to work, and photographing is his only passion.

 

_They don't even know what he likes._

 

Kihyun secretly saves his money during his college years to afford a camera. He nearly cries because of it.

 

The young man steps towards the cab that is waiting for him a few moments ago and opens the rear trunk.

 

After some minutes of settling down, the driver asks from the front, looking at Kihyun with the rear view, who is sitting neatly on the back side and asks, "where would you like to go, sir?"

 

"Seoul, take me to Seoul."

 

\---

 

Sitting by Han River, Kihyun sighs, hopefully, he won't regret his decision later on.

 

It's kind of pathetic to celebrate his birthday on his mother's grave. He just came out from there an hour ago, and now he couldn't back his tears, Kihyun doesn't care if there are stares on him.

 

_A man needs to be sad too, you know?_

 

Holding his birthday cake dearly and wraps the blue scarf around him, he lights up the candles. But the wind decides to mess up with his life, consequently, every time he lits up the small candles, the light blows off. Frustrated, Kihyun throws all of the candles into the ground and yells out loud, screaming his rage.

 

"I just want a proper birthday celebration with cake and present. All I want is to make a wish for my birthday, I know I said that I won't make a wish when I was eleven, but this is an emergency, and I'm so done with my life already!"

 

The young man steps on the candles angrily with his blue-violet shoes, the shoes that he starts wearing once he was twenty, and has been wearing them for six years already. Technically, these are the only pairs he has, all of his money got eaten up by his camera. _Literally or economically, they both work._

 

He screams, screeching his 'ah' endlessly.

 

"Fuck the candles and all that, I'm gonna make a wish right now." he takes a deep breath and yells bloody hell toward the River, luckily it's early in the morning right now, and no one is walking by.

 

"Please let me find a proper job, do something about Aunt's family, oh! AND PLEASE LET ME GET A LOVER!"

 

Up until Kihyun exhausts himself and breathes heavily, the boy lays back down on the grass and sighs, "What am I doing? Deities don't exist."

 

"To whom am I praying?" he pouts.

 

\---

 

Shownu is in his garden. This is the special hideout place that he always comes when lots of things are on his mind. And right now, _literally,_  lots of things _(read: yellings)_ are on his mind.

 

He's pretty sure it is still _early_ in the morning, maybe around six or six thirty. But he hears some sort of shouting in the distance, which disturbs him, so he closes his eyes and tries to detect where did the voice come from.

 

Shownu's holding a small bouquet of magenta lilacs sometimes during the screaming but he widens his eyes when he notices how his palm is bruising with hash marks, matching with the flower petals, and he doesn't know why.

 

And now when he looks up, around, he's not standing in the garden, but in front of Han River.

 

_What the fuck?_

 

There is a young man with red hair steps on the colorful candles before him, with each stump he makes, Shownu's wrist cries in _pain,_  but these small injuries are nothing, they don't hurt, so the goblin stays low, observing the ladder.

 

"Please save me from this misery." The small frame figure in front of him is still yelling out loud, not notices his present yet.

 

Thunders boom through the atmosphere fiercely making the little figure shocks and takes a few steps back, as he looks up to the sky now and points angrily.

 

"Are you gonna rain on me now, god?"

 

"Is this a thunderstorm or monsoon?"

 

"Will the rain ever stop?"

 

"Auntie only has two umbrellas, and she had already beaten me up for using it two days ago, why does it keep raining?!" Kihyun whines, his face scrunches up that both eyes create thin lines as he hits on the grass harshly with his palms. "Aish!"

 

"Was it you?"

 

Kihyun jumps up after the voice speaks out, the young man turns around to find a tall man in a big fluffy coffee sweater and black jeans staring down at him, his chestnut hair is styling into sides as he's wearing thick brown in-house chanclas.

 

"Oh my- You scared me!" The red hair holds on his left chest with shock and embarrassment.

 

The younger stares around to see if anyone else is there but realizing that the voice is asking him, he stutters, "M-me? Were you talking to me?" he stands up and dusts his pants, "Me?" and points to himself.

 

"Yes, you. Was it you?"

 

"What?"

 

"Did you call me here?"

 

Kihyun is really confused.

 

"No? I did not call you."

 

"Yes, yes you did. How did you do it?"

 

"How could I? I don't know what you are talking about. I didn't call you."

 

"Yes, you called me here, think about it. How did you do it?"

 

"Desperately?"

 

"Yes."

 

Kihyun chuckles, "I didn't call you, ahjussi. Just because our eyes met on the street that one time by mistake. That was you, right?" he looks up at the taller man, straight to the eyes.

 

 _This man doesn't look like an evil spirit_ , Kihyun thinks.

 

"What do you mean you saw me by mistake?" Shownu looks at him, fascinated.

 

"Ahjussi, you are a ghost. And I can see ghosts-"

 

Shownu cuts the ladder's words, "I'm not a ghost. And why are you calling me ahjussi? I don't even look that old."

 

The red hair starts laughing, "I call every male ghost ahjussi, especially when I don't know how old they actually are," he shakes his head "also, ghosts, they all say that at first." as if it's something he has seen daily. Well, _it is_ something he sees every day.

 

The goblin just stares at the boy in an emotionless face, converses robotically, "What the hell are you?"

 

"Huh?"

 

"Why do I not see anything that I should normally see?" Shownu is frustrated, this is something dissimilar.

 

"What can't you see?" Kihyun responses back as confused as the other is.

 

"Your future, your age of thirties and forties and forward."

 

Kihyun nods in understanding, "I probably don't have it then." he smiles at the taller man, "the future." His face contours into sadness quickly after. "You must be a shaman before you died or something?"

 

Shownu doesn't answer, only watches the young man before him.

 

"No? Then a con man?"

 

_What?_

 

"Future my foot, just keep me a break." Kihyun looks at him in doubt, says mockingly. He shrugs and turns around.

 

"W-what did you just say? C-con man?" Shownu _'tsks'_ out a sound. Both hands on his hips as he stares at the young man with wide eyes, _offended._

 

The younger turns around and looks at the man again. "Go to a good place, yeah? It's not good to wander for so long." Kihyun says as considerately at the man as if he's giving the most excellent speech ever.

 

He deserves a pat on the back. _Great job, Kihyun._

 

Shownu just looks at the red hair man, speechless.

 

"What are those flowers for?" The younger suddenly asks, points at the bouquet that Shownu's holding.

 

The goblin scrunches his eyes at him, questions, "Why are you asking? You said to leave." he's _annoyed._

 

Kihyun sighs, _ghosts are so troublesome._  "Fine, go then."

 

"Magenta lilacs, these are magenta lilacs." Shownu robotically responses.

 

His answer makes the younger man snorts, as he shakes his head. "I didn't ask that. I was asking why you are holding them." Then he confidently raises his and toward the taller man, smiles, "give them to me, they don't suit you." blinking his eyes innocently.

 

Shownu breathes out in amusement, "Ha, I've never heard that before. Seriously. Never." he looks at the latter as some sort of alien invading the Earth.

 

Kihyun's still innocently blinking at him, "hmm? Yeah? Just give them to me." his mouth curves cutely as he says, "today's my birthday." but his eyes dull down, "even though it's a very depressing birthday."

 

The taller man looks at his bouquet and hands them to the red hair, slowly.

 

Kihyun holds onto the flowers and grins, "My life is so purple."

 

This makes Shownu raises his brows in question.

 

"I received a pair of purple shoes when I was eleven." He sighs, "but what does magenta lilacs imply?" he asks curiously.

 

"Love and passion." Shownu's response makes the red hair still, the younger widens his eyes at the flowers. Kihyun gradually looks up at the man before him to notice that he's also staring back.

 

His red hair fluffing through the wind as cheeks hidden behind the baby blue scarf, the gentle movement of the wind blowing through him making the young man looks softer and more delicate than usual.

 

_Yeah, than usual._

 

"What? Why did you cry?" Shownu suddenly asks, "You said earlier, something about a job, your aunt and a lover." he coughs, "Which one?"

 

Kihyun cheeks go red instantly and he yelps, "h-how did you know?"

 

The goblin answers calmly, "I told you, I heard you."

 

The young man makes a face, "What do you mean, you heard me?"

 

Shownu rubs the skin in between his brows and exhales, "I grant people's wishes at times."

 

Kihyun looks at the man funny as if he just made some dumb joke, he asks back the same sentence, "You grant people's wishes at times? Like Genie?"

 

He thinks and looks up to the sky, "Or a guardian?"

 

Shownu looks at the happy hamster in front of him and nods.

 

"For real? Ay, no wonder~." Kihyun closes his eyes and beams brightly, teeth all on display. "You seemed different from other ghosts when I first saw you."

 

"Are you my guardian?" He asks excitingly.

 

"I didn't say I was." Shownu quickly denies.

 

Kihyun looks at the man childishly, and he says, "my omma used to tell me that everyone has their own dictionary," then suddenly serious, "but mine doesn't have words like " _happiness_ " or " _luck_ ," no matter how hard I search for them." he fakes a sniff, "You understand what I'm saying, right?"

 

"No, I don't." Shownu knows what's the _direction_ about to go.

 

"Uhmm~ don't be like that guardian-ssi, can if you just give me five-million won or something?" Kihyun pouts. "If cash is too hard, then how about the lottery? I always buy them but never get to win a single one. Yeah?"

 

There is an awkward silence, long enough to stop a man's pulsation. Then,  Shownu speaks up, "You can say goodbye to your aunt's family, I know you're running away right now, quit your job at your current place and apply to a new location or something, I would recommend you to work hard at a ramyeon restaurant, meanwhile, you can do extra work with your hobby, photography, right? You'll be fine."

 

Immediately, the taller man evaporates away, leaving the red hair pauses in amusement.

 

"Oh? Wait! Ahjussi?! What about my lover???"

 

"Hello? Hey!" There is no response.

 

"Tsk, how rude." Kihyun murmurs.

 

\---

 

Shownu closes the white door and exhales a deep breath.

 

_What a day._

 

Until he looks into his living room to see a black-suited man walking inside his mansion like he's watching animals in the zoo.

 

The man turns his head around, heading the heavy footsteps echoing through the place and toward him, looking back at Shownu in surprise.

 

"We've met." the grim reaper says as Shownu casually marches forward, hand in pockets.

 

"We have." the goblin nods, face emotionless, and the grim responses, "I've heard a lot about you."

 

"They're mostly fluff." Shownu nods again. Now that both men are standing in front of each other, the goblin questions, "Why are you in my house?"

 

Wonho's surprised, "You live here?"

 

As on cue, Minhyuk steps into the living room with drinks on his right hand as the other one waves in the air animatedly describing the mansion.

 

"We will leave all the furniture so you can move in and-" he stops awkwardly as he witnesses his uncle cold stares on him. _Fuck,_  he'll be dead meat by tonight, Minhyuk tries to beam a smile at his uncle, but the man glaze doesn't change.

 

_Nevermind, fuck that, he'll be worse than dead meat by tonight._

 

Awkwardly laughs, he gives both men the drinks and whispers, "haha... when did you get back, samchon?"

 

"Explain." Shownu sips on his tea.

 

"W-well, samchon you see," Minhyuk nervously speaks, "the house will be empty for another twenty-five years anyways," the young man fiddles around with his fingers,

 

"I was curious, purely and innocently, about how much the rent would be..." he looks up at the ceiling like it's far away, dreaming of the Milky Way and distant galaxies in some tiny exhibition, but his voice goes lower, and he doesn't dare to look at his uncle in the eyes. "Yeah..., just curious."

 

"Do you even know what did you bring home?" Shownu looks sort of annoyed. "That thing is-"

 

"Samchon, don't call our tenant _'that,_ ' you're rude to him right now." Minhyuk quickly fixes him up.

 

Shownu looks at him like he about to murder the poor boy, "since when do you care about _respect_?"

 

"He's about to open a tea shop." Minhyuk reasons, looking at the broad man earnestly. Then he turns to the grim reaper and smiles, "enjoy your tea, sir. My uncle doesn't often leave the house, please excuse his rudeness."

 

"No problem, and thank you." Wonho smiles and carefully sips on the cup.

 

Minhyuk, like a sneaky little brat he is, shoves near his uncle and whispers, "I didn't get the money yet."

 

"I see a new car downstairs." Shownu responses promptly, he knows this kid too well.

 

_Shit, let's switch to plan B._

 

"It's the tenant's car."

 

Wonho suddenly speaks up, "it's not my car," Minhyuk is actually sweating right now, eyes darting around nervously, but the grim reaper continues, "As for the money, I already gave it to him."

 

Minhyuk is running toward the door.

 

Shownu looks predicted, he nods, "I see, I'll return the money, you can leave."  

 

Wonho looks at him and smiles, "money is not the real matter, I already signed the lease." He brings up the paper and shows it to the goblin's face.

 

Shownu flicks his finger.

 

The paper is burning.

 

Making water gun fingers in front of the grim reaper, Shownu confidently answers, "I hope it's nothing important."

 

Wonho raises his eyebrows and grins, "that was a copy, the real one is with the realtor. I'll move in tomorrow. It supposed to be a lucky day."

 

Blue veins pop in his head, Shownu calmly replies, "leave if you're done, the best I can treat you is that cup of tea." he _surprises_ that he hasn't jumped up and strangled the man before him yet.

 

The grim reaper looks at him boringly, one hand stuffs into the pocket as he says, "just go and pack up, it'll take a while if you pack up for twenty-five years." as he makes the shoo-ing manner.

 

Shownu cuts his talk off, "you want to piss off a goblin, do you?" he smirks.

 

Mirroring the expression, Wonho smirks back, "I'm sure you know what it means..." he sets the teacup down, "to sign a contract with a Grim Reaper." and wiggles his eyebrows. "I don't mind taking the boy instead of this house."

 

Shownu snorts, "I guess I don't have a choice." His eyes are still glued on the black-suited man.

 

_Minhyuk better dies under his hand after this._

 

"Pick a room, we have plenty left," he says assuredly, as he lifts his head towards the stairs and walks away. "make yourself at home," he remarks sarcastically.

 

"It's my house." Wonho retorts back.

 

"It's _my_ house." Shownu smiles again, his eyes don't, though. Turning his head back, he adds, "Good luck trying to kick a goblin out of its cave. Hwaiting." Both eyes don't move away from each other, the scenario looks like two alpha wolves in the edge of snapping each other's head off. Anyone who is actually witnessing this would probably shit their pants already.

 

Minhyuk should be thanking God for running away.

 

\---

 

From the inside of the kitchen, if one estimates the dinner table, it would be calculated about eighty inches long. But only if one has the _ball_ to measure it, though.

 

Beholding the scene is one goblin from one side of the table and one grim reaper from the other side. Honestly, It is not really that awkward, both are just trying to enjoy the food without having any bickering. But that soon to be broken the moment  Wonho decides to insult Shownu as a meat-lover and Shownu barks back that the grim is too buffed to drink vitamins. _(and eat healthful food.)_

 

Seriously, _can grim reaper even get sick?_ That dumbass is just being exaggerated, Shownu reasons, _What's the point of storing all those pills, what? Potassium? Magnesium? Inside your body for when you're already dead?_

 

The comeback seems to provoke the grim that he flips one of his healthy salad veggies, in short as baby tomato into Shownu's coconut juice. It flies for approximately seventy-five inches long.

 

"Oops, my hand slipped." Wonho smiles at him sweetly, looking somewhat apologetic as if he actually slipped his food into the man's drink by accident.

 

Shownu's hands stop the process of cutting his beefsteak as he looks at how the drink shrinking down the small tomato.

 

"I was just trying to eat that one, I guess I held it too hard that it flew away, ahaha." he continues his teasing, unafraid of what the goblin is about to return.

 

Shownu smiles back at him, flicking the whole bottle of vinegar nearby him into Wonho's plate of salad, raises one eyebrow up, and counters, "Oops, my hand slipped too."

 

"But I was planning to flick it into _you,_  though."

 

The grim reaper sets his knife down, "What?"

 

"I thought we both agreed on being rude." The goblin tilts his head, "this, that, here, and you." He feels like his mouth gonna get cramp just from smiling too much. Looking at Wonho's reaction is damn funny, and he knows the grim is about to snap.

 

"You-"

 

 _Miraculously,_ he manages to hold his temper down. It doesn't bother the goblin, however. At least Shownu can save some plates from breaking into pieces.

 

_Yeah, you black-suited muscle pig, try me._

 

\---

 

Kihyun wastes an entirely five-hour looking for ramyeon restaurants that hire new workers.

 

There is _none_.

 

His time has been wasted uselessly that he stops doing it at sometimes.

 

"' _They'll accept you_ ' my foot. If they did, I wouldn't have to spend my time like this." Kihyun murmurs in irritation, why did he believe that ghost in the first place, _what a liar._

 

"I wish I asked for his number, though," he whines in regret and ruffs his messy hair back, disentangling them after a long day of running around.

 

Drinking his water in misery, the red hair man strolls his way toward the motel that he rent the day before.

 

As he takes one step, something cracks beneath his foot.

 

"Huh?"

 

The man lifts his foot up to see a few pieces of candle waxes lying separately on the floor, Kihyun picks them up in questioning, but as he turns around to look for the trashcan, a similar voice speaks right behind him.

 

"I knew it would be you."

 

Kihyun shrieks in terrified, "-oh my goodness! Stop scaring me!" the young man almost drops all of the broken candles.

 

Clarifying that the man in front of him is the one who was at Han River last time, Kihyun looks at him suspiciously, "Are you following me?"

 

"I'm not. You just called me-"

 

"I did not." The younger responses in frustration, as he walks toward a nearby trashcan and throws the candle waxes away. "And you." he points at the man harshly, who is currently dressing in a long green trench coat with a black turtleneck and brown pants, _and he's wearing shoes this time,_  declares that everything he said the day before was a lie.

 

"Also, if I can call you why would I have to suffer this much?"

"How did I call you, did I ring a bell or something?"

"Like _teuring teuring_ ~? Why do you keep saying that I summoned you? I'm not some kind of sorcerer!"

 

Shownu looks at the tantrums that the smaller man throws at him unexpectedly and shocks, "Why are you asking me? How the hell would I know?"

 

Kihyun can kick the man right there in public if he wants to, "Because ahjussi keep insisting that I called you, I didn't!"

 

"And by the way, are you really my guardian?" the young man narrows his eyes at the goblin doubtfully,  "What kind of guardian are you?"

 

"A shameful one? A concerned one?"

 

"Are you even a guardian?"

 

_Unquestionably full of doubts._

 

Shownu couldn't even count how many times he has to take _deep breaths_ these past few days.

 

"The last time you said ramyeon, is it like in the countryside where people actually handmade the noodle strings or something?"

"Am I moving to the farmland?" Kihyun doesn't stop his ranting anyways.

 

"No." the goblin marks his stare at the shorter man and says sternly.

 

And this riles Kihyun even more, "Then where is it?! You got my hopes up the whole day, and I found nothing."

 

Shownu eyes at the ladder as if this is the end of his world, "Do you even know what you're doing to me-"

 

"-NO, I don't fucking know. I never called you." The red hair glances at the chestnut hair angrily, _why is he keep saying that I summoned him?_

 

"It's you, I'm sure it's you. This never happened to me before." Shownu yells back, as furiously as the shorter male.

 

As a peace-lover, Kihyun stops himself before he is about to combust. After taking some long minutes of thinking, the younger clears his throat and eyes up, "Is it really me?" _Like, for real?_

 

"Really?" he tilts his head to the side and thinks hard, "If that is true, then what the hell am I?"

 

And another awkward moment passes by, Kihyun suddenly claps his hands together, creating a loud smack. "I know."

 

"What?" Shownu is losing his patience, considering himself is the calmest when it comes to _weird_ situations like this.

 

"Tell me what you see on me," Kihyun asks suddenly, and the taller male has to step backward for a few feet before he actually gets a hold to look at the younger.

 

"Hoodies..."

 

"And?" Kihyun encourages him to continue,

 

"And..." Shownu looks into the younger eyes, "...pretty,"

 

"...Pretty?" Kihyun is about to beam his hamster self up before Shownu adds another word.

 

"Pretty cool hoodies." Kihyun stops tracks at the other man's word. _Nevermind._

 

"Is that all?" he mopes, "No wings or anything?"

 

Shownu studies him weirdly.

 

"Anyways, I think I must be an angel. Like Dionysus or Hestia." As he brings both of his palms and cups his face cutely, blinking his eyes.

 

Shownu puffs in distress, "those are gods, dummy." before he dissolves into thin air once again.

 

"Tsk, I was only joking." Looking at the empty street before him, Kihyun sighs, "What a moody dude." He turns around and steps toward the hotel until he suddenly remembers something _important_.

 

"Ah! His phone number!"

 

\---

 

Kihyun decides to stop by the convenience store and buy three packs of candles.

 

He walks toward a small pond nearby a temple and throws three candles into the ground, then stomps on them to the point that all three break into little smashed pieces.

 

He looks around in uncertainty.

 

But true to his thesis, the goblin appears from the other side of the pond.

 

"Why did you call me here?" Shownu is dusting off the dirt on his gray suit. Some ducks fly through him as he paces toward Kihyun.

 

"Oh hey! Ahjussi, I know how to make this work. I know how to call you now!" Kihyun beams at him and waves his hand.

 

"Oh really? _How lovely_." comments sarcastically, Shownu patrols pass the younger and dashes toward the wooden gates, trying to get out of the temple area as fast as he can.

 

"Ahjussi, why are you running? Are you scared of the Buddhas?" Kihyun follows him and amazes. "I heard that they're good!"

 

Shownu narrows his eyes at the younger, "What do you even know about the divinity? Tsk, I'm not running because I'm scared, just think that my power will be weakened if I stay close to them.

 

"But-"

 

"Don't follow me."

 

"But you didn't grant all of my three wishes!" Kihyun shouts, chasing the man.

 

"I will take care of them, including your job." Shownu abruptly stops and looks at the small figure that is panting tiredly and tries to catch his breath.

 

"B-But, I was talking about the lover one."

 

"That." Shownu narrows his eyes again, "you gotta do it yourself."

 

And he moves as fast as he can, out of Kihyun's view.

 

"Wait-"

 

\---

 

Sitting at one of the benches in the park close to his hotel, the red hair fussing through his black camera bag.

 

"I know how to do it now." Kihyun takes out a printed polaroid picture of a candle and steps on it with his dark-violet shoes.

 

"Can you not?" Shownu speaks from behind the fountain, looking absolutely irritated. He's dressing in a black suit today, his hair, however, brushes down in bangs instead of splits into sides like usually. He seems really fresh, and it makes Kihyun surprises that the other can have another look of his besides acting like a grumpy bear.

 

"Wow! It actually works, I was just testing this out." The younger says happily and wipes the dirt out of his picture. _This gonna be a new picture in his wallet._

 

"Is this why you call me here?" The goblin stares at him furiously, " _Irresponsible_." as he rolls his eyes, "I'm leaving."

 

Yet right before Shownu is about to move, Kihyun runs to him in a hurry and grabs his arm. Immediately, a blue flame raises through the goblin's arm at where Kihyun's touching.

 

Shownu widens his eyes, shocked, "you, you can touch me?" And Kihyun nods, which startles himself at the same time. He doesn't know he could touch the man up to this point.

 

_Damn it! If I know before I'd have stopped him from vanishing away already._

 

But Kihyun's hands are burning from the heat of the blue flame, so he takes them back and blows on them with big puffs of wind. It actually hurts, _no shit._

 

"Ah, what is that? I feel like my hands are ripping into parts. I thought it would be cold cuz it's a blue flame."

 

"Idiot. Don't you know the blue flames are the hottest?" Shownu stares at him mockingly, he stuffs his hands into his pants' pockets, "go back to college and study, kid." he manages an eye-roll before turning around.

 

"Yah!" Kihyun shouts in insulted and embarrassment, this guy really knows how to rile someone up. So he pulls out the tower that he always uses to clean his camera from the bottom of his bag and smacks it into Shownu's head. _Hard._

 

"You-" The goblin looks at him like he's witnessing ghosts himself, "Out of all the mortals I have met, you're the first one who dares to hit me."

 

"Tsk," Kihyun smacks his lips and follows him, "even when I lost my parents, I was the top of the class." he matches steps the taller man, "forget it." and fixes the strap of his camera bag, leading the conversation as if _nothing_ just happened.

 

"Instead of being my guardian, can you just give me five-million won and go away?" Kihyun whines,

 

"I have work I have to attend to," Shownu says calmly, as he's fixing his tie and watch.

 

"What work?" The younger asks curiously, "you're wearing formal clothes."

 

The goblin is bothered, but somehow still continues his conversation with the shorter, "Tomorrow is a death's anniversary of someone I know."

 

"Are you leaving right now? Is it in the countryside?"

 

He shakes his head from Kihyun's questions, "It's today, but in a few hours, different timezone."

 

"But when will you be back? Tomorrow? The day after? There is something I want to ask-"

 

The goblin stops walking. Both males are now in the middle of the park, and no one is there beside them. "Then do it! Hurry up."

 

Kihyun looks around the park again just to sure no one eardrops them, "This question might sound strange, so I hope you don't misunderstand."

 

"Alright, say it." Shownu nods, encouraging the shorter.

 

_So Kihyun begins his ranting:_

 

"When I met you at first, I thought you were the Grim Reaper, but if you're one you would've taken me away already."

 

"After that, I thought you were a ghost."

 

"However, ahjussi, I noticed your shadow. That's why I started thinking; 'What is this man?'"

 

Shownu raises his eyebrows, "So what am I?"

 

"A goblin." Kihyun looks at him thoughtfully, there is _no_ trace of doubt in his sharp eyes. For a moment, the goblin feels as if the shorter male can _read_ his mind.

"Ahjussi, are you a goblin by chance?"

 

_Bingo._

 

"What the hell are you?" he blurts out.

"What are you?"

 

"It's awkward to tell you myself, but I'm the goblin bride." Kihyun scratches his back palm shyly and tries not to look at the man before him. "You know that I can see ghosts, right? When I was born, I got a red birthmark right here." The shorter male bends down and shuffles out his shirt collar, showing the angry red mark to the ladder.

 

"Do you see that right there?"

 

_*_

_The goblin bends down to the woman lying on the snow and reaches his hand._

 

_"You are very fortunate, to come across a soft-hearted deity. I just don't feel like watching anyone dies tonight."_

_*_

 

Shownu abruptly shoves Kihyun's shirt up as the younger fixes his collar. "That's enough."

 

_So it's her son._

 

"Prove it." He says to the redhead.

 

Kihyun couldn't believe after all that, and the goblin hasn't accepted him yet. "Do you want me to prove that I'm the goblin's bride?"  

 

"Yes."

 

"How? What? Do you want me to fly?" Kihyun asks dumbly. "Or do you want me to change into a broomstick?"

 

"Do it then." Shownu is not convinced yet.

 

After some point of thinking hard, Kihyun gazes at him and frowns, "I'm very serious right now."

 

But Shownu's reaction is still that robotic face and emotionless action, "I am too. Tell me what you see."

 

Kihyun asks in frustration, "Are you backfiring me?"

 

"Tell me, what do you see? _Everything_." the taller male repeats,

 

"You're very tall."

 

"And?"

 

"Your clothes look expensive."

 

"And?"

 

"You've probably died around my age? Maybe one or two years older."

 

"And?"

 

Kihyun thinks as hard as he can, looking at the goblin up and down, until he widens his eyes, "Don't tell me that you want me to call you handsome, do you?"

 

Shownu shakes his head in disapproving. _Nope, not this one._ "You should've answered the question correctly. If that's all you see, then you're not the goblin's bride."

 

"But-"

 

"I'm sorry that you have to see ghosts when you were born, but you are a product of meddling in the mortal's life by a divinity. However, be thankful for-"

 

"I don't." The younger cuts him off mid-sentence.

 

"What?"

 

"I don't feel thankful for this life."

 

Shownu answers without any hesitation, "Well then, die like how you were supposed to." and Kihyun scrunches up in a hurtful manner. The younger glances away, angrily mocking, "Your way of talking." he then clears his throat and looks straight back the older eyes' once again.

 

"Fine. I will ask you again. Ahjussi, by chance, you are a goblin?" Kihyun speaks harshly, as he holds his palms tight into punches.

 

"No." This time, Shownu actual replies.

 

Something bubbling in the shorter man after witnessing the blunt answer, "No? Then who are you? Who are you to judge if I am valuable or not?" The younger shouts.

 

"You wanted to get better just by a tiny bit." Shownu stops his rage and speaks his own reason, he knows how the other man feels, but he doesn't want him to have any sort of misunderstanding and believing that Shownu is the one he looks for.

"And I only concerned about you just by a tiny bit."

 

And true to the goblin's words, the younger male just wants to be happy living his life. Kihyun bites his lower lips furiously.

 

"Live in reality, not in rumors, because you're not the goblin bride."

 

Shownu walks toward the public restroom that is nearby and opens the first door as he steps his feet into the ground and flats out his suit.

 

_He is now standing in another country._

 

_I finally got rid of that annoying kid._

 

Kihyun angrily chases toward the black-suited man and yells, "hey, I'm not done with the talking-"

 

He twists the door and walks out in furry.

 

But beyond him, is a scenario of a street that he has never been to before. He is dumbfounded.

 

_He was in the park not even a minute ago, and now he's in another place? What the actual fuck? What kind of sorcery is this?_

 

Shownu turns around with a bewildered face and yells, "HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET HERE?" Mirroring the same shocking look like the latter.

 

"Did you just follow me through that door?" the broad man points at the small red hair man, accusingly gasps at what he's seeing, "how did you get over here?"

 

"W-well, all I did was holding the handle, twisted it and opened the door?" The younger even confused about himself. "A-and why are we in V-Vietnam?" The younger notices the signs and buildings around him.

 

"And I'm asking you how did you enter here." Shownu couldn't drop his surprise down, _who the hell is this guy?_ "How did you enter through that door?"

 

"I-I don't know." Kihyun shakes himself out of the goosebumps before he looks around the place and gasps, "Woah, what the hell? How come I've never seen this before?" as he runs toward the nightstand markets and looking at the street food.

 

"This is so cool, I didn't know ahjussi could do things like this!" Kihyun looks at the streets and observes various types of scooter riding through the endless paths.

 

Shownu walks toward the small frame figure and yelps the same thing, "But you can too! Who are you, really?"

 

The red hair swiftly turns to him as they both eye-to-eye, "I've made up my mind," he says.

 

"W-what?"

 

"If we're in Vietnam and you can do something like this," he breathes in dramatically, "I have decided."

 

"What?" Shownu stares at the red hair up and down.

 

"I made up my mind."

 

"W-what are you talking about?" _Jesus, what is he going to say?_

 

"I'll marry you. I really think you're the goblin." the shorter male reaches up to the goblin's height and stares at him sternly.

 

Kihyun giggles, and cups the goblin's cheeks "I love you."

 

"Huh?" Shownu mentally screeches after beholding all of these tangled messes.

 

_What the fuck is happening?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is such a mess jjkjgkfjgkhighs.
> 
> Imagine Dodo in hanbok tho :^)


	3. The Afternoon Pt.1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can hate me all you want but I've been extremely busy these past few months. ;0
> 
> short chap!
> 
> also uh... I didn't beta-read it yet D;

"Can we, can we just take a break?" Shownu looks at the small figure that is running around the street excitingly as he, in contrast, exhales tiringly.

 

Kihyun pays no mind for the man behind him as he runs toward each food section of the food stands and peeks inside of the carts, looking as if he is about to drool ocean.

 

"Can I have that?" The shorter man points toward the fried tofu section of a food cart with sparkling eyes, "I smell chicken." He grins brightly at the taller man.

 

The goblin stares at him unbelievably, eyebrows rise as high as the Ferris wheel he and Minhyuk got stuck on when the boy was in middle school. That was some erratic time, he doesn't want to think about it. "Excuse you, but you're not as broke as Bitcoin right now. I'm sure you can afford to buy some greasy sticks yourself."

 

Kihyun stuns at the man's retort, he looks back at him, offended,  _ who does this muscular ahjussi thinks he is? _ "no, excuse you. I have no Vietnamese Dong in me, do I look like I have the wealth to travel?" He shakes his head, "I shouldn't have asked you, forgot that Goblins are skimpy." Kihyun first time interaction with a goblin for some times must surely be a record considering both have probably been bickering since the first word the taller man said about his existence.

 

"W-what? Skimpy?" Shownu stutters, in all of his immortal life no one has dared to call him  _ that  _ before.

 

_ How dare he to assume me like those ugly green goblins in children's books? _ Offended doesn't even have the satisfaction to march with Shownu's current rage, it's worse. Or maybe the worst word you could think of.

 

For a second the taller about to burst, Shownu gathers all his composure and breathes.

 

If this small red-haired is indeed his bride, he would purposely drip tea down the floor without any hint of apologetic and let him cleans the floor until Shownu sees his own reflection. He could just straight up push the smaller guy back to Korea without the need to use his power. The shorter man can get just boop out of his existence. Honestly. He just  _ doesn't _ .

 

_ This little brat. _

 

Considering that Hyunwoo was born in a royal family, with wealth and respects from people around the kingdom,  _ skimpy  _ shouldn't be the word for him, not ever.

 

So currently living as Shownu, his ego doesn't let him receive that disgusting title once again.

 

The goblin decides to take the younger man to the best Vietnamese restaurant.

 

_ Or Shownu's best Vietnamese restaurant. _

 

"I only ask for some 'greasy sticks,' not a bowl of Pho and five sets of Banh Mi ahjussi, did I press you too much?" Kihyun peeks at the man, looking a bit apologetic as they are sitting in a booth at a corner of the restaurant. At least the brat knows he said something wrong.

 

Regardless that, Kihyun still eats almost the whole table the moment the waitress served the food.

 

Shownu watches him interested the entire time, absolute with fondness. The latter looks like a hamster when he eats, with both puffy cheeks and small cute lips. He also makes those little "nyam-nyam" sounds, oh my god.  _ Is he a kid? _

 

But hold up.  _ Cute _ ? Shownu, what the hell, Don't let this kid brainwash you. 

 

The goblin mentally shakes his head and looks down at the table instead.

 

Usually, he always eats more than this. Yet just by watching the little figure eating, his appetite somehow just dissolves into powder, like the one that Seunggi-hyung likes to use to make peach pancakes, the pink powder one. Is this some sort of bonding between them, Shownu isn't sure. _ But if it is _ , he's sure is fucked.

 

It gets late the moment both men walk out of the restaurant. Kihyun's satisfied as he rubs his stomach gently, one or two moments, he would release a small exhale. It looks like he wants to burp but refrains himself from doing so. Shownu doesn't say anything as they walk toward the door where they came from.

 

The tension is vivid. Now that Kihyun doesn't know what to do. He has an appointment with a customer tomorrow, his frequenter, requested for an hour of photographing. She mentioned something about a coming up wedding a few days before, so Kihyun either has to get his pathetic ass up at some unholy hours in the morning or miss his golden opportunity and regret later on, but he doesn't want to go home. The man awkwardly turns toward the goblin, his back hits the wooden door. Stiff and quiet.

 

"Go home, don't get lost. Hopefully, I won't see you again." Shownu says. It doesn't come out as cold as it should be, however. Then his body dissolves into the air, as always.

 

Kihyun pouts, looking around a bit confused as he is all now by himself. He really doesn't want to go back yet. And it's barely 7 pm, he still has sometimes. The only thing Kihyun can do right now is going back to where he originally came from.  _ But who the fuck is that ahjussi to order him around. Didn't he already announce he will marry him? _ Either gain something than nothing. Kihyun, living his life as a broke photographer, declares that if he's acting like his face has 3 thick layers of elephant glue, he better keeps it up until Shownu gives up and let him do whatever he wants. So the man decides to look for the death anniversary place that the goblin mentioned earlier. Maybe, he will see him there and annoy him again. The shorter man excitedly on his new adventure.

 

But he disapproves shortly after that mischievous thought.

 

Following his instinct, Kihyun quickly finds the place where the goblin is currently sitting. Wow, clearly the magical thing of being a goblin's bride is to be able to immediately notice the older man, this is some weird abo fanfiction shit. It's not even that far from where they walked out. He murmurs a small  _ 'found you.' _

 

Yet before he also gets the chance to walk toward him, something is patting on his shoulder.

 

The man shivers, his hands raise up, automatically setting up a position of combat. He might be short, but he's not that weak. The short man glances around in alert to see what just touched him only to see a younger man looks at him from behind. Kihyun is sure, he did not feel a  _ single  _ aura surrounded him a second ago.

 

"Excuse me." The figure says with a soft high-pitch voice. He is wearing a pale gray-blue-ish cardigan with black and white stripes tee, denim short with pastel pink hair. They're both nearly the same height, only that the other man doesn't have his shoes on, so he seems a bit shorter. There's not even one street lamp nearby.

 

"You seem lost, do you want me to help you?" The man friendly asks, he smiles sweetly at Kihyun, and the red-haired man looks shocked for a moment before he answers, "no, I'm good, thank you." and he deprecates that he responded back. 

 

_ Kihyun you idiot. _

 

Kihyun is sure that's a ghost. You don't walk barefoot on a rocky road unless you die and turn into one, or you're not in the right mind. And he knows the man is absolutely normal considering how he dresses. Maybe he is judgemental, but Kihyun is experienced. He knows what he's looking at.

 

The boy looks down at his rejection and whispers a small  _ 'alright.' _ Kihyun exhales silently and continues walking through the grass field, toward where Shownu is.

 

_ Maybe that ghost wasn't as evil as I thought, he didn't follow- _

 

"But I think you do need help!" The pink-haired pops up right in from of his face as he accidentally walks pass the figure like he is the air. Kihyun shrieks. "You motherfucking-" He feels as if he just touch the organs of the other man.  _ Vividly _ .

 

"Goddamnit! Why did you do that?"Kihyun is terrified to the point he almost cries, only to see the young man hugs his stomach as laughs so hard he is about to tear up.

 

"So you do see me!" The latter says brightly, holds out his hand and grins. "Nice to meet you, goblin's bride. I'm Jimin."

 

_ Aren't ghosts supposed to look all gloomy and blue? This one seems like sunshine can just fall out from his ass,  _ Kihyun stares at him in confusion.

 

He gathers his posture and pretends he didn't see or talk to the ghost at all.  _ Ahjussi, let's just walk to ahjussi. _

 

But that didn't stop the ghost, Jimin, from chatting to him. He walks backwardly as Kihyun steps forward, giggling as he speaks, "You don't have to pretend that you don't see me, no one's here anyway."

 

Kihyun, a twenty-six years old jobless man, has first witnessed a different type of species that still classifies as a ghost. This kid could be an angel after this. He's pretty. But annoying. Spirits don't just approach humans without having a purpose, but this kid right here seems to just want to have someone to converse with.

 

"I'm not gonna harm you, you have the goblin to protect you after all."

 

Jimin, or whoever he is, clearly asking for the wrong person. The thought of looking at a stranger is already pissing Kihyun off, he  _ hates  _ socializing.

 

"Hey, say something, don't be quiet like that, I will be sad."

 

Kihyun pretends he's singing "I love it when you call me senorita" because Shawn Mendes has sung the line as if he as straight as a circle. Only Jimin is not giving up.

 

"Hey, HEY!" Jimin puffs his cheeks, looking at the other man in irritation. "Do you know it's a basic manner to respond to another individual's question? Stop ignoring me!"

 

"Shut the hell up, you noisy pink ghost." Kihyun finally snaps, you can call him cute, you can call him too-naggy, you say his dance's stink, but you cannot say anything about his  _ manner _ .

 

"See, no one says anything!" Jimin smiles, acting as if he didn't feel upset earlier. "I know you are barring yourself from the wicked spirits but trust me, I'm not one of them. Like see, I don't even look scary." he spins in a circle in front of Kihyun cheerfully.

 

"I know," Kihyun still feels annoying, "you don't seem like one. I just don't want to look like a crazy man, talking to the thin air like that." the man waves his hand in a shoo-ing way, "go away please, I don't need to be-friend with a ghost."

 

Yeah, he knows he's rude. But bluntness saves lives. At least his life.

 

"How rude! I'm just trying to be helpful!" Jimin pouts again, "you can't just talk like that in someone's house?!" 

 

This seems to gain his attention. The red hair stops at his words, "house? Th-this is your house?"

 

_ In the middle of a fucking grass-field? How unlucky this kid was to die here? _

 

"There's nothing here, a huge ass empty field. The headstones area is like 700 feet away!" he gasps,

 

Jimin nods at if it's nothing. 

 

"Yeah, I know. I was murdered here."

 

"Y-you WHAT?"

 

"Scary, huh? That was me when I realized that I died too. I just don't get why the Grim Reaper hasn't come and collected my soul yet. But I do have something I must do so I'm glad that I haven't disappeared yet."

 

This increases Kihyun's awareness.

 

"So...how did you die?"

 

Jimin looks at him for a moment, before he averts his eyes down, his feet play against the green grass. He seems amazed.

 

"Do you even realizing that I am Korean?"

 

Kihyun feels a little bit stupid. Of course, he's currently in Vietnam,  _ not Seoul _ . This ghost was straightened-up speaking in satoori to him for a good five minutes alright, and he didn't even notice.

 

_ Maybe you should go back to college Kihyun. _

 

"I- I do." He lies, a bit embarrassing. "That's why I asked how did you die, a Busan kid like you can't just be murdered in a foreign country like this, you know."  _ that's right, Kihyun. Save your pathetic face. _

 

"Ah, you know that I'm from Busan! Finally!" Jimin cheers, but dims down instantly when he starts talking about his death.

 

"I was on vacation with my friend Tae. I was here three months ago before I died. It was very blurry, but I remembered that we were both going out pretty late at night. Then Tae wanted to go to the restroom, so we stopped at the public one."

 

"Uh-huh, continue." Kihyun presses. He's not good with conversation  _ as you can see. _

 

This causes a small snort from Jimin before he goes all serious again, "Then suddenly a hand grabbed me and drugged me to sleep, I didn't remember anything between that but the next thing I woke up, I heard two men were talking on the phone in Vietnamese and English, I could only hear something about  _ 'the new piece of meat' _ and  _ 'on its way to delivery.' _ I was too terrified that I pushed myself up to find out that I was in a backseat car. The two men didn't notice me, so I pretend to be asleep until the car stopped. I pushed the car door and ran immediately as fast as I could. And once I got here, one of the men picked up a big rock and threw it at me to make me stop. Unfortunately, it smashed into my skull and I blacked-out after that."

 

Kihyun hisses at this. That sounds really,  _ really painful. _

 

"Yeah, I know what you are thinking about. It happened too fast that I couldn't even feel the pain." He sighs. "The next morning, I woke up just to witness my own body lifeless on the grass. There were police cars everywhere. There was an ambulance. And..." Jimin stopped, the pink hair man bits his lips as if he's preventing himself from feeling emotional. "And I saw Tae was trying to run toward me, he was crying and screaming although the polices have secured the area."

 

Kihyun stares at the poor man beyond him and pats his shoulder, "you don't have to tell me if it's too hard to say."

 

"N-no! I want to!" Jimin cuts in, "I have always wanted to tell someone this. I felt so heavy every time I think about it. It was hard to accept my own death until I saw the ambulance carried my body away, and I am stuck in this place since that day." The man sniffs and sighs heavily. "Tae was yelling at the nurses to save me, that I'm still young and such. He was crying about how he was trying to look for me last night when I disappeared until he received a car at 5 in the morning to find out that I died. I felt horrible, knowing that I wanted to tell him it's okay, I'm here for him. But the dead body is me, and I am  _ nothing  _ right now. I have never felt so hopeless before." 

 

Kihyun hearkens through the story and regrets listened to it. This man was too nice to die, even his soul is pure that there was not a single dark air that surrounds him. He bits his lips in curiosity, "then what happened to your body? Did your family bury it?"

 

Jimin sighs, "no, they burned it, the ashes now in a jar of somewhere in Busan, I have no idea. Tae came here a few days after the funeral and told me, I think he accepted that I'm still here, both of us are always believing in these mystical things. But I don't even know what's going on with Tae and my family anymore. Been here since forever, dude."

 

_ That sucks, your soul stays at where you died regardless where your body laid. _ The kid seems to be too young to be unfortunate. "So how old are you? Or how old were you?" Kihyun asks.

 

"I'm a 95'er, you?" Jimin answers almost instantly.

 

"You are twenty-four?! The fuck? I thought you are a college freshman or something." 

 

Kihyun sudden bluntness has made the pink-haired laughs. "Yeah, I get that a lot. It's kinda sad though ‘cause no one ever takes me seriously." then he grins slightly.

 

"I'm older than you, uhm...can I call you Jimin, Jimin-ssi?" Kihyun hesitates for a moment, waiting for the ghost to respond.

 

Jimin brightly nods. "Sure, of course."

 

Kihyun, for once, goes against his mother's wish to not interact with ghosts, "tell me then, Jimin."

 

"Huh? What?" Jimin looks at him in confusion.

 

"Tell me, the thing you wants to do before you vanish?" 

 

Jimin looks at him in surprise, "no, no! I'm telling you this because I just want to ramble about my miserable life, you don't have to do anything!" he fastly waves his hands around in rejection.

 

Kihyun sighs, "but you're dead. You can't even leave this place. How are you going to do it? The things you want to do."

 

"I..." Jimin hesitates. The goblin's bride has a point, he can't do anything. Maybe, he needs help. Perhaps, just one time, the red-haired can help him accomplish his wish. Jimin doesn't want to stay in this place any longer.

 

"Th-then, could you do me a favor?" he asks,

 

Kihyun smiles at him, "sure, as long as it's not impossible. If it's in Korea, then I can help. I’m currently in Seoul. This is my first time here."

 

"N-no! This wouldn't be that hard. Actually, this is perfect. Even though I came from Busan, I actually lived in Seoul. Tae and I are both seniors in SNU, or at least I was." he nods after thinking of something. "C-could you come to me and Tae's apartment and get something? A small brown notebook, It’s my diary." he shyly scratches his cheek, "the reason I was on this vacation in the first place because I fought with my boyfriend."

 

"You fought with your boyfriend?" Kihyun wides his eyes, he's not judging, just wondering.

 

"Yeah, it was something silly, but I don't know what would his reaction be when he heard about my death because I love him a lot and I don't want him to feel guilty about it." Jimin sighs again, the other couldn't even count how many time the boy sighed that night;

 

"It started out simple, I wanted to have a cat and Yoongi immediately complained about how we were already busy with school, part-time jobs, and everything, and we already have Holly so he against it."

 

"I pretended to be mad at him, and he took it too seriously that he said I was a whining baby and I keep wanting to do the impossible more than the possible. I knew he had a point, but hearing him calling me that sort of offended me. And you know what was next, all hell breaks loose."

 

"Taehyung was reading about places for vacation and suggested us to go to Vietnam, so I was like,  _ 'why not?' _ I won't have to see Yoongi for a few weeks anyway."

 

Jimin holds his talking and looks at Kihyun, "b-but, I didn't, I didn't expect that night was the last time I saw him. I hope he wouldn't be mad at me." He tiredly sighs and hides his face in his long cardigan sleeves. He rubs his eyes aggressively as his high-pitch voice starts to crack.

 

"I, I miss him so much and the thought of-" hiccups, "of never seeing him again bore holes onto me, I can't take this anymore. I just want to stand in the edge; either I have to disappear and forget everything or at least let me see my family, friends, and Yoongi before I vanish. I don't want to be stuck in the middle like this, uselessly wandering around with guilts crawling around my body." he sniffs. 

 

"I haven't said ' _ I love you'  _ to all of them. I have so many things I want to do, yet, I can't do anything."

 

Kihyun looks at the latter who is now sitting down on the grass, head on his knees as he balls himself up and cries. He is that awkwardly rational type of person. Usually, he would straight-up ignore a peek of a ghost who dares to present near him. He would ignore this one, but it's Jimin, and something is stirring him to help the younger man, knowing that he won't cause any harm to the red-haired. 

 

Kihyun bends down and ruffs his head, nods knowingly and whispers, "I get it, Jimin. I know it's hard for you, I will help you. Just tell me where it is, I'll just have to talk with your friend Tae, and we can sort this out. Hopefully, you can fade in peace after this." but then he shifts, "but I will only help you that much, I can't go to every house of your relatives to awkwardly say 'I love you' individually. That would be very... _ creepy _ ."

 

Jimin looks up with his teary eyes, "NO! No, you don't need to do that much! If you can just get the diary and tell Tae to give it to Yoongi, that would be a great help! He will understand once he receives it. Th-thank you." he sniffingly whispers back, "you are a great person, goblin's bride." Kihyun nods again, but he realizes something  _ off  _ about this conversation that they have. "I know it is sudden. But why are you calling me goblin's bride, you didn't die even that long, and you didn't die in Seoul to know about that. How did you know I am the goblin's bride?"

 

Jimin seems a bit surprised, "how did I know?" Everyone was talking about you! Every other ghost that I know of." Jimin shakes his head, "I'm sure you must realize that the goblin buried his 'bodies' here to start over his life again. He visits this place every year for his own death anniversary, I thought he took you with him for this reason."

 

Kihyun finally understands the purpose of the taller man, he finally gets why did the goblin come here. The person who seems to be so important to him. "I see," he nods, "thanks for the information."

 

"You, you didn't know?" Jimin, if even more, wonders, "how come you're here if you didn't know?"

 

Kihyun forms his lips into a thin line, the one that his walnut chin would show, "Hmm, long short story." he acknowledges to himself, "anyways, I don't think I'm officially the goblin's bride, though."

 

"Huh?"

 

Kihyun sighs, "apparently, that meanie ahjussi said I'm not his bride." Kihyun shakes his head and pats himself up, Jimin follows. As they both walk toward the yard where Shownu is currently sitting on. "But it's ridiculous, 'cause all of my life, every single ghost that I have seen keep calling me the 'goblin's bride,' that's why I want to follow him to prove I am one. Or at least I  _ hope  _ so."

 

"Hey," Jimin looks at him and utters, "you know that you have that gradient around you, right?"

 

"What?"

 

"That blue gradient! Only the goblin's bride has it! And I heard my other ghost friends said you also have a birthmark somewhere on you, like your shoulder or something, correct?"

 

"Y-yeah?"  _ I fucking knew it! That muscular bear dares to say I'm not his bride. That asshole _ .

 

"I heard that birthmark exists to prove that no one can touch or harm you, I'm sure you are the one. Look at you, surprised and all that." Jimin smiles and pats his shoulder friendly. Up until that they are about a hundred feet stepping behind Shownu's back, Jimin pushes Kihyun forward and whispers, hands on both of the latter's shoulders, "the address is Gangnam-gu, 5 30-gil, Hakdong-ro, just go to the fifth floor of Yangjin plaza. This is where I used to live. My friend's full name is Kim Taehyung. Sadly, I cannot approach goblin-nim for some reasons, so hopefully, you will successfully manage to convince him you're the bride. Bye-bye hyung!" Jimin soonly boops himself into nothingness, so fast that Kihyun even has the time to respond back.

 

"Jimin, wait-" _ Why does everyone keep disappearing in front of me? _

 

Kihyun still quickly takes out his phone and writes down the address into a note. He was a top student for a reason,  _ good memory saves asses _ .

 

The red-haired man pouts and silently walks toward the goblin, who is still in his peace zone as he sits on the grass, looking at his own tombstones, composedly.

 

It's currently quiet. Shownu closes his eyes and reaches out to the wind, feeling how the air softly kisses on his knuckles, one hand beneath the green grass feeling them tickling his big and rough hands, tanning through years of traveling. He lets out a small sigh, enjoying the peaceful moment as much as he could. 

 

Kihyun observes him, without making a sound as he smiles unconsciously at the taller man. Breathing in the cool breeze from the small grassy hill on top of the city and close his eyes too. Both immerse in their own world without a word nor action. Kihyun has never felt so serene before. He decides to wait for the other man to notice him before his approachment.

 

Shownu is still looking at his own tombstones. Various emotions are flashing through his eyes, he just doesn't really express them out to the point of obvious. But Kihyun still can sort read it. There is sadness, there is painfulness, even guilt.  _ But guilty? Of what? _ He could not tell. Nonetheless, he sets himself down on the grass and picks up a nearby dandelion, gently blows each small puff of seeds toward the suited man. 

 

Shownu is too drawn in his thought, he doesn't even notice the flying white dandelion seeds surround him. But it is a beautiful sight, or at least in Kihyun's eyes.

 

The goblin wakes himself out of his own maze as he checks his black marble watch, interrupts the small bubble that formed around them for a long moment ago. It is now 9:30 pm, he dusts himself and gets up, unrealizing that Kihyun has already stood behind him.

 

"Ahjussi!" the red-haired calls, causing the goblin to shake his shoulders in surprise and whips his neck back a fair 75 degrees. Looking absolutely frightened out. 

 

"I told you to go back!" Shownu yelps,

 

Kihyun pouts, "But I don't want to, it was too early." He scrunches his nose as he mopes and the latter swears he looks literally like a hamster. At this point, Shownu might be convinced that he was one his past life, sadly he just couldn't see it. "You didn't even know I was here." Kihyun whines,

 

This causes the goblin to roll his eyes and sighs, he has to go back anyway, it won't hurt dragging this brat back to where he belongs. And the Grim Reaper is currently in his fucking house and if he's not going back, who knows what would happen. Shownu cracks a few of his bones as he walks down the hill, following up is a red-haired little hamster.

 

Beforehand, Kihyun walks toward Shownu's tombstones as he bows to them respectfully.

 

\---

 

On their way back to the wooden door, Kihyun suddenly asks, "so, you used to live here?"

 

Shownu calmy walks beside him, nods, "Yeah, after I fleed out of Joseon."

 

"J-Joseon? How old are you?" The shorter shrieks, he didn't expect the latter would be  _ that  _ old.

 

"Not sure, couldn't keep count."

 

He nods in understanding. "Then how come you moved here?"

 

"I travel back here and there, but this was my first home. I had watched a small straw hut now turns into a 5-star hotel."

 

"What a waste. You could've bought that straw hut then, the whole building would've been yours."

 

Shownu stops in his track and looks at Kihyun funnily.

 

Kihyun stops along with the taller man until he realizes his own words, "don't tell me, the hotel is-"

 

"Why are you so surprised? Close your mouth, flies could fly in instantly." Shownu speaks without giving him a glance. Kihyun's shocked expression is making him hard to breathe. If the goblin could yell out loud  _ 'this is illegal'  _ he could have done so. He just doesn't.

 

"B-but- but-" Kihyun stutters for the rest of that night.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> keep streaming WHO DO U LOVE? cuz we stan kings <3


	4. The Afternoon Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that I've repeated listening for 1/3 of this chapter is everything goes by RM.

It's raining by the time they get back to Seoul. Kihyun bows to the goblin thankfully for taking him to another country considering that he has never thought of traveling in anywhere beside Korea. It rains so much, his clothes are instantly soaking through the thin black fabrics. The heavy dripping sound repeatedly hitting on the hard ground, forming a calm melody into his ears. He didn't even bring his scarf, so unconsciously, the red-haired shivers. Unsurprised that Shownu has disappeared the moment he yawns and turns his head to the surroundings of the street of cars and the monsoon itself.

 

Kihyun pouts for a small moment, as he shakes his head in exhaustion and drags his legs toward a nearby bus station. He might or might not get used the other man's disappearance. Really, it isn't a pleasant feeling if he has to be honest. He doesn't understand why the other kept rejecting the idea that he is the goblin's bride, knowing full well that his evidence convinced him earlier. Kihyun sighs as he pulls out the headphones inside his camera bag.

 

It took him a while to look through his large black bag, Kihyun takes note to cover the bag well in case there's a sudden splash. His whole treasure is in it, sure as hell, the man doesn't want to break his _only_ camera. Sipping through the layers of zippers that he found small souvenirs he received when both of them were still at the restaurant. It was the 10th anniversary since the place opened, so each customer got to receive a small straw hat key chain. The goblin didn't want it, so Kihyun kept both himself. He chained them together immediately the moment he got it. The designs on each of them look so unique and matchy, they might seem like couples' key chains.

 

 _Tsk, it's not like that ahjussi has one, this is mine._ Kihyun tights his grip as he thinks of the man.

 

The goblin is wealthy. Kihyun's lisp might be worse after today that he couldn't utter a word acknowledges that the latter is, _in fact_ , extremely rich. But then, overall, the man is not that bad. He's too grumpy, _maybe_. Kihyun's sensitive himself, so if he has to put himself in the man's shoe, he understands why the goblin behaves the way he is. Kihyun must be annoying to him.

 

But why would he have to think about that man? It's not like he's a faithful goblin, speaking like the world is about to end. He didn't gain Kihyun's lover wish yet. The shorter man mentally curses at the unseen goblin.

 

  
Somewhere in the Earth, Shownu sneezes as he opens the front door.

 

  
Kihyun silently closes his eyes and listens to the night radio that is currently playing on the old cracked phone, blocking all of the dripping from the outside as he holds on tight the crucial small chain, under the bus stop's roof.

 

His favorite channel; when Kim Namjoon speaks with his deep and raspy vocal of the depth in oneself, Kihyun closes his eyes and smiles, enjoying the moment as if the time is stopped. As if everything has paused itself. As if he could watch the marvelous scenarios that this world still possesses. He really really like the man's voice; thick and soothing. Mostly, the subjects that Kim Namjoon talks would primarily relate to the philosophical side of society, in specific, the emotions in each person. He's currently mentioning of who you should love and who should you give your heart to, leads Kihyun focus toward the spoken topic.

 

The song is playing calls _'everything goes,'_ perfectly fits in the scenery that Kihyun's at. _Rain_. Maybe listening to slow beats under the weather also slow his heart. Because he feels at peace for once after everything, he has been through. Leaving his family isn't even one wanted or unwanted choice, it is the only option he has. The DJ himself has produced the song. One of Kihyun's favorite album. Kim Namjoon's deep voice blends in with the beat, as he calmly talks about today topic, also one of the titles Kihyun hasn't heard before;

 

"It all passes. Someday. For sure. Certainly. That's right, today topic is about the hardship in everyone's life. I know it is currently raining, so hopefully, everyone is now home safe and sound. I visited my mother this morning, and she gave me some kimchi." Namjoon's chuckles, "I haven't tasted her food since Thanksgiving, I felt bad because I couldn't go back to Ilsan to see her because of my schedule..."

 

Kihyun heart hurts, thinking about his mother. "I wish I could see her too."

 

He sniffs from the cold and stares around, expectedly, no one is near as he hears to the crackled voice of the DJ again, "...I mean, we all have struggles, but don't be because of them and forget yourself. I know it sounds very selfish, but health is the main priority. So if you listen to this song, I hope your pain would reduce somehow. I hope my messages reach your heart. I was delighted to see my mother after months, so I believe family is the best root that helps me through my struggles. But everything goes, same to me and same to you." Kihyun lends his head to the glass wall next to the bench, his heart seems to sink a little more until Namjoon mentions about how he recently got married.

 

"...he's the best person I could ask for, really. Without him, I don't think I'd have been alive, ahaha." the DJ makes those raspy laughs as the music still going through the background. "Sometimes I even question if he's my husband or my mother. He's just very concerned about everything in general, but that's the reason why I love him. I appreciate every moment I'm with him."

 

When it turns to listen to the listeners' calls, through the radio broadcast, Namjoon receives a question from a female listener, as she shyly introduces herself, she asks his first impressions when he met his husband, or what does he think is a perfect image of his lover. _What was the husband's name again? S-Seokjin? Kim Seokjin? Something like that_ Kihyun remembers. Anyways, Namjoon suddenly says, "I won't tell you about my husband, because..." he laughs, "...he's mine. But I'll tell you my perspective of a good lover." Kihyun suddenly thinks of the goblin and looks at his new key chain.

 

Stupid. Kihyun, _stop it._

 

"On this rainy night," Namjoon gently speaks, "A good lover, in my case, a good umbrella is..."

 

"...The voice that responds to you when you call."

 

Kihyun unconsciously thinks of someone, 

 

"The memories of being together at the same places, same times."

 

 _'_ _Ahjussi.'_ and he unconsciously whispers,

 

"The first time you matched each other paces."

 

Kihyun smiles when he thinks of the moment they both walks down from the hills, peaceful and calm. It really wasn't that special, but Kihyun doesn't really have any friend throughout his high school and college years. He was always by himself, walking on the paths of his own and his shadow. Correspondingly seeing the taller man side-to-side with him, Kihyun suddenly felt the warmth of happiness soothes through his chest. As if, when he feels the bubble between them covers the whole atmosphere just like only two of them in the same world. When the goblin froze at his confession. And when he takes him to the restaurant. It felt like a date. He feels so bubbly and delight, he chokes out a laugh unconsciously until the red-haired stops himself and gasps.

 

_What the fuck is wrong with you?_

 

Kihyun shakes his head furiously and sits up, right on time, the bus just approaches and stops. He awkwardly walks toward it and clicks his coins in.

 

_You must be crazy Yoo Kihyun._

 

 

\---

 

 

"Are you busy?" Shownu walks toward Wonho, who is relaxingly drinking his chocolate milk as he stretches his legs on the sofa, watching one of his favorite shows. The goblin purposely blocks the TV screen with his full body, seemingly wants to distract the other as much as he can.

 

 _More like disturb,_ Wonho thinks.

 

"Yeah, I'm busy." Wonho moves his head to the side and watches unbothered.

 

"Then come with me." Shownu looks at him and mocks his finger up, making a body sign. Wonho is confused. He's just trying to enjoy his show, and this tall ass goblin decides to interrupt his good times. Nevertheless, the action makes him feel like a pup.

 

Shownu ignores his look and walks toward the door, looking somewhat rush and irritated, Wonho's sure the man isn't mad at him, but his tone kinda itches him "stay close, but not too close."

 

Wonho, as a _friendly_ grim reaper he is, rolls his eyes and glances at the latter, "It better be important enough to stay close, or you're dead."

 

Shownu snorts, still ignoring his eyes, "that's what I'm trying to check, _my fate_." and walks straight through the door.

 

"What is he talking about?" Wonho has been observing him walking out of the door, confusion still vivid in his eyes, but nonetheless, the grim reaper stands up and walks toward the white front door like a lost puppy.

 

He twists the doorknob, turns, and pushes it. The door clicks and opens to the greenery view beyond him. Wonho is outside of the mansion, with pastel pink bunny pajama and pink house chanclas. But _he. Doesn't. See. Shownu._ So the only sound he could only spill out is a dumb _'huh?'_

 

Shownu teleports between the transposition of the mansion to his secret garden just like how he did when he teleported from the public restrooms to Vietnam this morning. The same spell and same ritual just to wait in the center of the garden for a pleasant three minutes and finds out that the Grim Reaper did not follow him here.

 

He sighs and walks back to the door that leads him to the garden.

 

Shownu walks out of the garden and now standing in front of Wonho.

 

The only thing that on Wonho's head is a punch to his longer than 500 years old brain bonus a migraine.

 

"Why did you come out from there?" The grim reaper scrunches his eyes in bewilderment as he tilts his head. "HUH?" His eyes have never been more extended than that.

 

"Strange right? He did something even the Grim Reaper finds strange." Shownu turns his back toward the other man, whispers. The same curiosity and frustration are vivid in his eyes.

 

"What? Who? Who did what?" Wonho asks, his eyes darken, who is he that this cocky polar bear mentioning that could do the thing he couldn't. Wonho is bothered, he's a grim reaper. A high class one, too.

 

"Do it again. Get closer." He approaches Shownu from the back, the moment when Shownu didn't expect until the chestnut-haired turns around and yelps loudly, observing Wonho's head specifically on his right shoulder. When he says _'on,'_ it means on, the fucker dares to touch him upper one of his favorite sweaters.

 

Shownu shocks himself to the shooketh as he touches his cheeks and back away dramatically seven feet. "W-what are you doing?" He's not blushing, not really, 'cause if he does his image is ruined.

 

"What?" Wonho widens his eyes, "why? Why are you backing away?" Wonho is so lost, so so lost. All in his years living as the grim reaper he has never witness the thing that appears beyond him. How the goblin is stressing himself out of someone that described briefly as ordinary. And saying things that related to how magically powerful they are. " _And he is already fucking dominant,"_ as he quotes.

 

"I'm just competitive. Where are you going? Where did you go?" Says Wonho as his big doe eyes enlarge like two endless blackholes.

 

He wants to know the thing that Shownu can do, that person can do, but he can't. You can say he's pretty much ambiguous.

 

Shownu screeches out a pissing groan, "Get lost, fuck off, I'm just a goblin." as he touches his body tensely and annoyingly strolls back inside the house.

 

"GET LOST!" he turns around and yells one last time as his body shivers, goosebumps.

 

However, in Minhyuk's point of view as he watches both men from behind, is pretty... _bromance_. Sort of reminds him of that one vine; _two guys in a hot tube five feet apart 'cause_ you know the rest... Anyways, the man was leaning by the new sports car that he just bought previously. Watching the whole scenario is drawn. He decides to approach Wonho when Shownu marched in. The latter is still in those pink bunny pajamas and slippers, looking as clueless as ever. But also irritating at the other's behavior.

 

He frustratedly yells back, "How dare you leave me here looking like this?!" runs behind the exasperated goblin until Minhyuk calls him.

 

"Mr. Tenant! Why are you out here? Aren't you cold?" He pretends a sniff as if he was barely there. Hands naturally shove in his Adidas pant pockets, the younger man strolls toward the sturdy grim reaper. The black-haired man sneaks inside the mansion front door, peeking to see if Shownu is there and smiles at Wonho. That one 24K handsomely smile that could make tons of girls faint for no reason. But the only words that graphic in Wonho's head are _'What. A. Fake. Ass.'_

 

Minhyuk attempts to warmly drag his to the latter shoulders only to have the other man dodges instantly, hesitation lucid by his face, staring at the younger disgustingly and disturbed.

 

Wonho realizes this kid is very touchy, regardless of anything. Hell, even if he has fur allergy that wouldn't budge him from touching a gathering of dogs. And Wonho himself despises cooperation, _especially_ skinship.

 

Minhyuk, who almost trips himself over the other man stops in time before any climactic accident happens, which he wishes not to receive from, thank you very much, awkwardly hangs his hands in the air for a moment before he scratches his nape, and of course, laughs.

 

"A-ah, I see you don't like being touched. B-but it's not anything important! I just wanna know if you're comfortable around here."

 

Then, he looks serious for a glimpse second as he shifts his hands in circles, whispers tinily, "but did the house get humid all of a sudden? or the room suddenly bright up by itself all of a sudden...?"

 

Wonho barks and takes a step back, definitely not liking the direction of the conversation, "I simply just want your uncle to leave all of a sudden."

 

Minhyuk snaps his fingers immediately after the latter, "Right? I just want him to go abroad asap, too. Like why would a big fish like him linger here? You get me, rig-"

 

"No," Wonho rebuts uninterested.

 

"-Okay, you don't." Minhyuk smiles awkwardly again, _wow, it's hard talking to grouchy people like him._ "W-well, I'll be seeing you often. But how should I call you? I can't just say Mr. Tenant, you know, it doesn't sound too favorable to me."

 

"Can I call you samcheon...?" Wonho's face distinguishes into a funny expression, so Minhyuk hurriedly fixes himself, "...or I guess that's too friendly..."

 

"Okay." He sighs and forms his hands into a bowing posture, "Let me get this straight."

 

"Could you do me a favor? Like just pretend that you don't live here when an old man is visiting this house? Please just help me this one. I can't let him know that I let you rented the house. I would be dead meat by then." he mutters nervously.

 

Wonho raises his eyebrows at the kid and bites his under lips, "Who is that old man?"

 

Minhyuk shyly replies, "my grandfather." then shamelessly chuckles, _chuckles, really, the audacity this kid owns, dear_ _Lucifer_. Wonho's nostrils flare frustratedly, "I, Lee Minhyuk, swear to you, Mr. Tenant, that I'll always stand on your side until the end." he cheerfully raises his hands, reminding Wonho of a dog, a flattery one to be specific. Then pats his hand over his heart. "I will."

 

"Seriously." Wonho hits his forehead and closes his eyes, pretends that he didn't apprehend anything from Minhyuk, "fuck this," as he tiredly shuffles toward the door and opens it, patting his back like an aged man and groans.

 

 _What the heck did I get myself into? AHHHHHHHHH,_ Wonho mentally screams.

 

Minhyuk watches the pink pajama man steps inside the mansion with his pink slippers and cracks out his trademarked sneaky smile.

 

 

\---

 

 

"If I open this door," Kihyun whispers beneath his breath, "it will be Vietnam, Vietnam." he inhales a big breath and loses his shoulders, black straps on his chest, connecting to his black camera bag, and he pushes the restroom door stressfully, mimicking the same sentences over and over.

 

"It will be Vietnam!" he shouts as he pushes inside, only to see a young man stands by a sink and washing his hands. Looking like he doesn't care what Kihyun just did. And Kihyun would have called himself _crazy_ if he's the one in that situation. But he doesn't know how to react, so the red-haired just standing by the door, breathing in and out slowly.

 

Until the other man speaks.

 

"You needa use the sink?" questions the other man.

 

"N-no, go ahead." Kihyun shyly shakes his head and walks himself out until the latter calls him back, "looking for a job?"

 

Kihyun startles, as he turns around and looks at the man curiously.

 

Jooheon takes his time, he fixes his new dyed black hair, it was blonde a few hours ago, but the roots were coming out again, so why not having some self dye session? He's in the mood. He clenches his teeth, grins at Kihyun with both dimples showing out. Kihyun finds this man somewhat _familiar_.

 

"You seem desperate, I guess? And that bag, photographing as a freelancer job won't do you justice anyways." He nods sympathetically, and Kihyun kinda feels terrible about himself. _He must be easy to read._

 

But suddenly, Jooheon shoves out a small advertisement poster with red and yellow on it, underneath is an address written in big black font, he gives it to the red-haired, kindly acknowledges. "I walked by the place, and this taller pink-haired guy gave this to me. I noticed the hiring sign, so I think you need this more than me." he pats Kihyun's shoulder and walks straight out of the restroom.

 

"T-thanks?" Kihyun didn't get to appropriately thank the stranger, though.

 

As he peers back at the poster, the ramyeon picture out of nowhere _magically_ appears next to the black font. The red-haired blinks his eyes several times, mouth gasps and looks around like he has seen some kind of witchcraft. Kihyun thinks he has gone insane if it isn't for the pain that he feels shortly as he pins his cheeks.

 

 

\---

 

 

He twists, and he shifts.

 

He turns again, and he rolls back.

 

Then he shakes his legs.

 

He pushes himself up to the soft bed and starts doing push-ups.

 

He stops himself over sometimes and lays back down, eyes strain on the eggshell ceiling.

 

And then he vocalizes, in that sort of intense and abstruse train of thoughts, "he can summon me and follow me through the door, but he can't see the sword."

 

What on earth is he?

 

_'I love you.'_

 

Flashbacks at the shorter man's confession, Shownu shivers. He roughly pushes himself to the side of the bed, next to his nightstand and chews his nails.

 

"If he really meant what he said, then this is really awkward, damn it!" he ruffs his hair and shakes his legs again, teeth clench in together in that uncomfortable gesture, tremblingly munches on his nails back.

 

An excruciating moment passes by.

 

Then he pushes himself entirely out of bed, stares intensely at the round led lamp on the nightstand, historically dramatic as he whispers, "one's curiosity always wins against one's dignity. I'm curious, so I'm just going to ask him." And he bursts out of the bedroom door.

 

"What is pride anyway? It's not like I can eat it."

 

  
\---

 

Kihyun unobtrusively wanders down the walled road with a carton of fried chickens that is barely bought simply to recognize the tall goblin leaning against a nearby wall, reflecting solemnly, eyes strain on the dark sky.

 

"Oh!" He yelps surprisedly, catch Shownu's attention.

 

"Ahjussi, what are you doing here?"

 

Shownu peeps at him in a pretended, annoying manner, and steps toward the smaller figure as he acts to be bothered. "I'm not here because I want to see you, I'm here because you summoned me. Why did you do it again?" _He might or might not has crossed his finger from behind his winter coat_. "I'm a very busy person. You can't just call me out without a purpose like this. I don't exist to labor for you, kid."

 

Kihyun gazes at him, dumbfounded, "but I didn't call you this time?"

 

"Y-yes you did." Shownu pokers his brown irises and try not to look straight into the latter eyes. Thank god he's a good liar, he knows this kid is pretty witty. And now he has to make an excuse for appearing hereafter that dramatic performance of himself.

 

"It's because you missed me. Did you or did you not? Your thoughts directed me here."

 

A perfect excuse. Criticize all you need, but Shownu would proudly declare that he deserves an Oscar.

 

His words somehow shoot straight toward Kihyun as the younger man widen his eyes, ears blooming a bloodshot red and his soft pink lips stutter. He couldn't get his words right, "W-well, I guess I did." and it's absolutely embarrassing.

 

"Then, you gotta feel sorry for calling such a busy person like me out, right?" Shownu convulses at the latter's behavior, eyes wander around the road, checking that one crack on the wall like a type of museum property that he has been missed every time he visits the place. And he has always patrolled by this path. _Goddamnit, the kid is so adorable,_ but he's not trying to look at or he going to regret his life's decision later on. It's not like he has options, to begin with, though.

 

"I'm sorry then." Kihyun softly speaks, after debating himself from running away from this horrifyingly flustered situation and much worse, embarrassing himself further. But he has his own dignity to protect, and the only thing he could spill out from his lips is a pitiful apology.

 

Oh well, it's appropriated enough.

 

"But is it true that you get summoned when I think about you?"

 

Surprised at the red-haired question, immediately it's his time to get fluttered, _shit_.

 

"N-not all the time. You know, I'm just sensitive." the goblin coughs, "that's why you should think lesser about me."

 

"Oh, okay." Kihyun gazes down at the ground, his mouth forms into that wrinkled walnut shape in understanding and awkwardly doesn't know what to do with himself. But then, Shownu neither.

 

However, Shownu is the one who pops that stuffy atmosphere both men convey in that tiny street.

 

"So, why did you miss me?"

 

The goblin could have sworn he has never seen anyone blushes as hard as the latter. Because of a beat after his remark, Kihyun gets even shyer than he has ever been. "W-well, you know..."

 

"I know what?"

 

"You know, just..." he sighs, turns his head toward the other man and frowns, "I missed Vietnam because I have never been this excited for fifteen years already. And when I thought of Vietnam, I guess I thought of you, too. Vietnam is joyful. I'd be happy there if I lived there. And naturally, you just popped in my head..."

 

"Like...he always wears expensive clothes, he has even more expensive watches," Shownu unconsciously rubs his watch, "the hotel looks like it is his. He has all the things in the world. He could be the happiest man alive...but..."

 

"But...?"

 

Kihyun emits tiredly, "...but why does he always look so sad?"

 

He shyly softens and sets his hands on his red cheeks, looks back down on the ground, lips shape into a straight line, the chicken carton hanging by his right hand, unbothered, "my thoughts flowed just like that."

 

That hits Shownu hard. Intoxicallly touches the deepest locker of his unprepared soul. Shownu doesn't know how to respond. And damn the goblin for seeing the man before him, the air gets even stuffier. In his dividedly immortal life, no one has ever observed, studied, and also engaged in his philosophies and emotions as carefully as this man. No one has ever spoken anything like this to him. And to determine the red-haired boy that he feels affected and touched is definitely an overstatement. He justifies better appreciation. Not kenning on how to retain the conversation, Shownu unblushingly changed the subject.

 

"So...you bought chickens? Can I have some?"

 

Smooth, Shownu. _Smooth_.

 

 

\---

 

 

  
Kihyun knows he's having trouble in finding a place to live, but he also knows he can't just stubbornly lingers at that remoted and stinky motel. So he decides to return his room and takes out all of his luggage.

 

Kihyun patrols toward the given address that is written on the ramyeon poster he received from the dimples stranger. Humming delightedly as he walks.

 

Little did he know, two suspicious _shadows_ were following him along the road.

 

 

\---

 

The small bell tolls when the red-haired opens the glass doorway, stepping inside the ramyeon shop as his eyes wandering through objects that are surrounded in the petite eatery.

 

This place is quite pleasant, he thinks, except that, gloomily, there isn't any customer inside.

 

But he isn't complaining, he's here because of that hiring sign. And he takes the most chances he could get.

 

"Excuse me," he quietly speaks, only to spot a tall pastel pink-haired man sitting on the table set that is the closest to the cashier area, calmly chewing on a bow of chips. The man turns his head toward the sound and peeps with his droopingly artistic eyes at the grand figure, flips his hair back with his longs and slender hand a perfect sweep of ninety degrees, chips still on the other of his palm and some at his lips. Body arches in an S curve, resting contently as he softly munches on the yellow potato bits. Eyes still stain on the body of the unconscious inferiority self-esteem of Kihyun.

 

Kihyun stutters, his lisp shows, his hands shake, and he's nervously sweating because of a certain man who's currently waiting right in front of his eyeballs.

 

_Absolutely amazing, Kihyun. Great way to start a day._

 

"Welcome," his sweet baritone voice vocals through the walls, surprising the red-haired. But Kihyun couldn't say anything, just dumbstruck staring like a creep at the handsome man who's comfortably nibbling on his chips.

 

"Take-out?" not receiving any word from the latter, the pink-haired questions, making Kihyun shockingly brushes himself out of the zone and shakes his head. "N-no! I'm not a customer. I saw they have a hiring sign for this place. Can I see the owner?"

 

"I'm here, the owner." says the tall man, and he smiles at Kihyun. The red-haired swears he must have died and gone to heaven to witness this beautiful angel. Because he's _undoubtedly gorgeous._

 

The pink-haired man pats on the table as he points to the sit that is the opposite of him, calling Kihyun to come near and sit. The shorter man shyly approaches, murmurs a small polite "I see, you're the owner." and nods a thank at him. He pats his own pants and sits on the white steel chair. "I thought you were a customer 'cause you look so good-looking."

 

The pink-haired man nods that him in understanding, "Right? Customers are beautiful. But it's been so long since I've seen one." Then he proceeds to continue biting on the crunchy chips. His face's unfazed.

 

"Well..." Kihyun looks at the place again, and looks at him, and looks at the chips, hesitates for a bit, but gain his confidence and avow, "just tell if you need something. I'll meet all of the conditions you want. I don't have anywhere to go..."

 

The young owner still carefully chews on his chips.

 

"When I was 11 years old, I lost my parents, and I had to support myself. I don't have any relatives-"

 

"Ah, that's right..." The taller man suddenly speaks up, "radish..., our radish is delicious. But I don't remember the last time a customer asked for it."

 

Kihyun sighs wearily, but the pink-haired hasn't done his talk, "you want some?" he asks, shoving the bow of chips toward Kihyun, the shorter man politely accepts them, whispers a small thank you. "Are you poor?" he continues, and the latter nods, "I guess you could say so,"

 

"Are you completely jobless? Or actually, have something to do?"

 

"I'm a photographer, but I don't really have a workplace or anything, more like a freelancer."

 

The pink-haired man draws out a long and deep ' _ah_ ,' acknowledges him. "Do you have any time later?" he chews on his chips again.

 

"No." Kihyun shakes his head.

 

And instantly, the owner sounds out a grim minute, "then today is your first day. Work."

 

"R-really?! I-I can work here?" He pushes the table up harshly and bows a perfect right angle at the latter, making the steel chair falls down, following up with a big _thunk_.

 

"Thank you! I'll do my best, I'll do well! I will." he breathes out fastly and energetically. Yelling loud and excited.

 

"I guess that the ramyeon place that ahjussi talks about is this." Kihyun grins, receiving a chill respond from the pink-haired, "right? Ramyeon is ramyeon." The pink-haired chuckles at the man beyond him, mouth full of chips, but it's not like Kihyun minds.

 

"Sure, work hard. But I don't remember the last time a customer walked in here," he says boringly, and yawns.

 

"Oh."

 

 

\---

 

 

"Ahjussi!" Kihyun thinks in his head, "ahjussi!" he thinks again, but the man doesn't show up.

 

So drawing out his wallet, Kihyun steps on the candle picture, just to turn around and sees the other man, dressing in his white tee and khaki pants, holding on a fork with a beefsteak on top, ridiculously standing behind him with his brown indoors slippers.

 

"Wow...you're eating expensive food." Kihyun stares at him, not surprised. But it kinda makes him hungry. "Instead of having that, can't you just give me fifteen-million won?"

 

Shownu stares back at him, frustrated, yelps, "can you just make a schedule with your phone so that I know when to appear? Don't just randomly call me out like that, let's be civil, it's the fucking 21st century."

 

"But I like this better, though." Kihyun pouts, "anyways, I've found a job at the ramyeon shop all thanks to you, so I'm calling you here to appreciate your 'contribution.' By the way, the owner is sooooooo beautiful." he rants excitingly at the goblin.

  
"Congrats, but I don't like this, don't you ever think about me?" Shownu stares at him irritatingly,

 

"You didn't come when I think about you," Kihyun whines this time, but immediately brights up, "but I don't mind seeing you while promising our future. He smiles softly, eyes wrinkled up cutely as he sweetly whispers,

 

"I love you."

 

Shownu stares at him, speechless, then aggressively shoves the whole steak into his mouth and paces away, slippers would be damned.

 

Wonho is eating his chocolate ice-cream after his workout that until he's beholding a stressful goblin walking into the house with a fork, angrily marches toward his bedroom and slams the door.

 

 _What's the matter with him?_ Wonho stares at the doorway, shaking his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might or might not had added more tags and chapters. ;^;


	5. The Evening Pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for haven't posted anything 2 months straight. :,) I really need to have a grip on my life.

Wonho about to climb into his white, soft, and comfy bed, only to have the goblin rushes into his room, wearing a slightly cream tee and white, khaki pants, glances at him with that ridiculous pose and flips his bangs. "Do I look well with this?"

 

"You...changed your clothes?"

 

That looks precisely alike to whatever he just wore earlier. Except for the color tone.

 

"I just want to dress attractive in case that kid summons me again. You know how big my self-esteem is." Shownu fixes around his pants, checking himself over the black mirror that hangs up by Wonho's bed. An image of a dad who tries to impress his kids for a band concert,  _that type,_  Wonho shakes his head. "What kid? And why would they summon you?" exhaling tiredly, he definitely annoys at the unexpected invasion. He just wants to sleep for satan's sakes after a long day of taking care of those clueless drifting white souls, the thing he hates handling the most. _Can the man leave him some silence moments of peace?_

 

A big fat NO would be the only answer he receives, look at that asshole's face,  _it's not like he ever listens._

 

"Just answer me, bro. You don't need to ask other questions." Shownu whines, 

 

Wonho is tired. Really, his eyes just want to drop down now, desperately.

 

"Did you just... _'bro'_ me?"

 

"Yeah,  _'bro._  I'm asking you for your judgment, nobody has ever received this kind of honor beside you. How do I look,  _bro'_ ?" He spins around in that migraine style, Wonho isn't sure what did he do to earn this punishment. It's so _colorful_. This dude, he's unusual in a painful way, if possible.

 

"I'm asking _to whom?'_ Answer it first."

 

"I asked, how do I look?"

 

Wonho groans again, he feels like that health bar on top of his head is draining bit by bit. If the only way to make the goblin walk out of his room, he just has to compliment him. Biting on his tongue, he's about to spit out the most regretful talk ever.

 

"You look terrific, absolutely stunning, like that one singer, what was his name again? Something rain, ah yes, Bi Rain. Just go out like that. What a king. The best! BAKSU!" The Grim claps his hands in that artificial style and repeatedly nods.

 

"Uh..." Shownu hesitates, that is definitely not the reaction he expects to see. "I must look horrible, lemme just change my clothes." He spins around in a lightyear speed and marches toward the door, leaving the grim reaper releases those heavy rocks from his shoulders.

 

"Ah...finally." Wonho exhales and bundles himself back into the coziness of his white comforter. He wants his beauty sleep now, and he's on a mission to get it. He NEEDS this sleep.

 

"Hey, should I bring this book, or should I bring the CD?"

 

_Oh no, not again._

 

"Kids...they don't listen to CDs anymore. And for the book, I don't think any kid would like to read a book about argument essay samples." The ravenette yawns, "Now get out."

 

"Fine," Shownu walks out again, and the room returns to its quietness. 

 

"-Hey, what about this hat? Does it look good on me?" Shownu pops his head inside the door and-

 

"OH MY FUCKING SATAN, STOP ASKING AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ROOM!"

 

\---

 

 _"An unexpected thunderstorm was seen at Gangnam, causing difficulties to the people who travel on the street-"_  Minhyuk turns off the TV, cutting the forecaster's smoothing voice halfway and crunches his nose, recognizing something familiar about the weather.

 

"You hear that, samcheon?" He twists around and notices the bedroom door opens. Getting no response, "samcheon?" Minhyuk asks again, only to be looked away from Shownu. All he sees was the goblin's spine-line. Brown sweater covering his muscular body. The man is just still on his brown cover bed and pouts.  _Holy, he even has his glasses on,_  Minhyuk hasn't seen him wear that mysterious item in years.

 

_He is unmistakably in that moody zone._

 

Minhyuk could be hopeless in school, in learning, in work, or he has no interest in inherited his grandfather's hotel. But he is most confident in reading people. And right now, if his uncle either isn't madly irritated or unhappy about something, he doesn't know what else. Despite knowing the goblin would tie his ass into a chair if he asks, he's still Lee Minhyuk, as in the ' _most handsomely sweet-talker in Seoul,'_  he titles it. Dignity what, he does care about his uncle. 

 

So he approaches.

 

"Samcheon, you alright?"

 

Shownu sighs, his back still faces toward the young man. Body rolls into a big ball, the literal definition of depression. And there is no sign of wanting to talk to Minhyuk face-to-face.

 

"Minhyuk-ah."

 

"H-huh?" he sweats a bit in between his eyebrows, oh man, he sounds serious.

 

"Before I tell you what happened," Shownu's deep voice echoes through the thick wall, giving that cumbersome and tiring atmosphere. "There is something I must tell you."

 

Minhyuk raises one eyebrow at that.

 

"It's a secret of your family," he sighs, "and my tragic fate." Shownu closes his eyes, taking in a deep breathe. "Don't be too shocked."

 

"Um...ok?" Minhyuk swallows,

 

"The truth is...I am-"

 

"-A goblin? I know." Minhyuk nods and weakly breaths out a small whisper. Damn, that is expected. For Minhyuk, of course.

 

Shownu, however, is so surprised that he nearly jumps his whole body up from the velvety surface.

 

"H-how did you know? How long did you know? From whom? When? Where? What? Did your friends see me when you were young? Did someone sneak in and told you that? Did your grandfather tell you? No, that doesn't make any sense, I've warned him to not say anything. Since how long did you know about this? I was planned to tell you only when you're old enough to understand-"

 

"Okay, okay, okay, stop. That's...enough," Minhyuk holds those questions back with his hand, ending the rambling from his uncle and shrugs, "I've known that like two weeks after we first met."

 

"What?"

 

"Well, the first week since you lived here, you got drunk and started making dozens of gold bars in my bedroom. Did you forget?"

 

"..."

 

"When I asked if I can have them, you flicked my head and laughed at me, I immediately knew that you weren't my real uncle, like look at you, who would flick their grandson's head when they were what? Five? Only you, samcheon." 

 

"So, you are telling me you already knew that I was the goblin when you were five?" Shownu's body floats in midair with his legs fold into meditation, it's hard to read his facial expression, plus there is a robotic reaction to it.

 

"Uh-huh." Minhyuk nods dumbly. 

 

"And you have been speaking informally with me for twenty-five years?"

 

"Uh-huh, why?"

 

"Minhyuk-ah." Shownu's voice echoes again. But this time, there is a define coldness in it.

 

Minhyuk shivers, knowing he speaks too much, as he quickly covers his mouth, only to gain a deathly stare from the goblin. "When was the last time I tied you into the stairs?"

 

_Shit._

 

_\---_

 

_"The meteorologist has issued a heavy rain warning for part of Seoul and Gyeonggi. As the roads get slippery, the traffic will get more troublesome. This is from Reporter Lee Minho."_

 

"Oh, wow, it's been raining the whole day." Hyungwon exhales softly as he stares through the glass door of his small eatery. "It's nice."

 

"How could you say that? If it's rain, we won't be having any customer." Kihyun's third day working at the ramyeon restaurant wasn't as bad as he thought. Cleaning the plastic tables by the entrance door, he wipes the small towel smoothly on the surface and soaks it back into a bucket nearby.

 

"We don't have customers even if it rains." Hyungwon shakes his head again. But his face doesn't show any disappointment, as if he's already used to these types of situations. "It's more pleasing to have rain 'cause we won't be having any customer anyway."

 

Kihyun stops with his wiping and stares at the door this time, sighs.  _Guess someone forgot his umbrella._

 

"That face," Hyungwon smiles as he briefly gazes at the young man before him, "is telling me that you will be rat-soaked by as long as your shift ends and you walk out of this place."

 

Kihyun nods shyly as a confession.  _The little man is so easy to read. Cute._

 

"Just take one of mine, I have plenty." the pink-haired man laughs lightly, "I was always too lazy to take them home. Take them, and don't bring it back."

 

"R-really?" Kihyun smiles back excitedly, there are five umbrellas on the bucket next to the entrance.  _He's definitely taking the blue one. "_ Thank you." That sweetness in his smile just makes him more of a little hamster, Hyungwon really likes this guy's presence. He's cheerful, yet at the same time, understanding to the extent of making Hyungwon comfortable. Standing up as he dusts his jeans, Hyungwon gives out a small yawn and walks toward the cashier counter as he picks up his thick winter jacket.

 

Kihyun eyes curiously follow the man before he asks, "where are you going?" Hearing no answer, he heeds to the latter, almost bumping into his back. "Do you want me to clean the whole store? Should I prepare things for tomorrow, too?"

 

"That's the owner's line, Mr. Employeed-Three-Days-Ago." the tall man walks toward the umbrella bucket and grabs a yellow one before he shoves his left hand into the warmth of the gray coat's pocket. Words contain no malice. "When I'm not here, you should just slack off and not work." He grins lazily and opens the door. The instant coldness splashes into both of their faces, making Kihyun shivers, he doesn't have his jacket on. While Hyungwon successfully blocks that crappy air away from his almost fragile body with the umbrella.

 

"Nah, I can't just do that, I will work hard for you Hyungwon-ssi," Kihyun speaks honestly, giving the pink-haired wonder of why would someone who is literally the same age with him thinks so wholesome and genuine. Hyungwon smirks, "if you work harder when you're not being watched, it's pointless. Just slack off Kihyun-ah."

 

"But-"

 

"Also, call me Hyungwon, we are literally the same age. Hell, I think you're even older than me by a few months." Hyungwon turns around to look at his new employee one last time and walks out of the door, leaving the shorter man as he dashes through the street with his vividly bright yellow umbrella.

 

\---

 

"Huh?" Hyungwon stares at the framed picture blankly. It says, "The Kim Minseok Squad." underneath the image of three young men stand beside another.

 

"O-oh, that? They're my friends, magically somehow we were all named Kim Minseok. And it's even more hilarious that we were living in the same neighborhood." The young shaman talks to him in that gentle, high pitched voice as he shoves out two black dices into a wooden cup. "Let's see. What do you want to know?"

 

Hyungwon looks at him, funnily, "shouldn't you be the one who knows that?"

 

 _Uh-oh, a spicy one. What has gotten into this man?_ The shaman thinks.

 

"Uh...Things are not going well?"

 

"I wouldn't be here if everything was going well. I'd be counting money."

 

_Money?_

 

Minseok has never diced his fortune that fast. The man shuffles his cup alone in circles and flats the dices down onto the table to read the numbers,

 

"Goodness. You don't have any luck with your partner and children. You have the desire for wandering and lust of the flesh-"

 

 _Lust. What the fuck is this man talking about?_  Hyungwon kind of regrets going to this place, seemingly another scammed shaman. But oh well, he's just going to play along if he already paid money for the fortune-telling.

 

"-Right? I'm fated to have all sorts of lust. I have a lust for life too. I should stop being lustful, right?" He smiles seducingly and winks at the shaman, both hands on his cheeks, and he lends on the small coffee table.

 

The latter ignores his flirting act and quietly sways his head, "You're born with such a lonely fate." He talks in that sweet but grieving sound. "You're all by yourself without a single relative."

 

 _Wait, what?_  "How do you... know that?" Hyungwon widens his eyes and now pays more attention to the young shaman. He  _knows_.

 

"Your life is like a sailboat in an open sea." The man mysteriously whispers, and Hyungwon laughs. It seems like this one isn't scammed at all. He takes that back.

 

"I hope I'm on that boat alone with a handsome man." The pink-haired man wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at shaman's words.

 

"Oooooh," Minseok stares back at him like he senses something, sights into his chocolate orbs, and smirks, "I do see a man in your life. Watch out for the man with a hat. A pit-black hat." He wiggles his eyebrows back at the latter.

 

"Oooooh," Hyungwon copies the shaman's tone and leans down, "I hope that man wearing that hat is good-looking." as he drops his eyes to the shaman level and smirks slyly, eyebrows wiggling again, matching with the other man's playful interaction.

 

 

Wonho sneezes as he walks out of the mansion while holding on his hat.

 

\---

 

"Why do you keep wearing that wrinkling thingy?" One of Kihyun's (rare) ghost friends, Mingyu strolling along with him to the restaurant. They haven't talked for weeks.

 

"What century do you live in, bro? It's a keychain. What else would you do with a keychain if you don't wear it? It called a key  _'chain'_ for a reason, duh." Kihyun rolls his eyes at the tall man's question. Mingyu's an annoying little ass most of the time, and this is one of those times.

 

"Man, stop with those salts. And still! Those sounds keep bugging me, it feels as if metals are smashing on my eardrums."

 

"You must have sensitive ears, I'm the one who wears it yet I don't feel anything." Kihyun laughs that dumb justification. Ghosts don't even have any good hearing than humans, and here he is talking like ghosts are vampires' housemothers.  _At least make it reasonable,_ Kihyun glances _._  He didn't say it out loud, however. He plays along. "But I have two of them, so I guess double trouble. You have to deal with this from now on, Mingyu-ah. I'm not sorry, by the way."

 

"Why would you have two keychains? Someone gave it to you? Did you snatch someone last week? Who is that unlucky person?" Damn, he's annoying doesn't mean he's dull. Only the questions seem to be a bit difficult to answer. Kihyun jolts at the ridiculously unmanageable interrogations the latter given. He blushes, and stutters, and believes that he probably has embarrassed himself in front of his friend, but Mingyu just grins back at him like an idiot.

 

"H-hey, hey! I did not snatch anyone. W-why are you saying that? Ew."

 

"Gosh Kihyun. You are disgusting. Just look at you." Mingyu shakes his head as he laughs out loud, ignoring those pair of crimson ears and cheeks on someone.  

 

\---

 

Kihyun rubs his hands together under the coldness of December. There will be the first snow tomorrow, according to the forecast. Although he hates the chill, snowing and blizzard flakes have always been the mood to his lonely winter all these empty years.

 

It's good to see how the sky fades in a dark blue as the day ends silently beyond him. The young man shuffles his small candle photocard from his little pocket and pats on it a few times before flats it down into the ground, gently sets his shoe on top. He wants to thank the goblin, it barely the beginning of December, the first time he ever stepped foot in Seoul was his birthday. And it has been precisely one week since that faithful day. If getting a job was Kihyun primary goal, he has successfully received it all because of one generous man. 

 

Well, he knows that is pure bullshit.  _(The man called Kihyun dumb at some point, but let's not try to negative him for now.)_  At least, he should repay something to the taller. Kihyun turns around to the sound of someone walking toward him only to be terrified under one shadowless figure.

 

He is absolutely not expected to see the Grim Reaper.

 

"A-ah shit, I forgot my s-scarf again-" He fiddles through his neck, touching the invisible scarf that wrapping around his Adam's apple. Eyes flicking around the area in panic as he sorts through his bag to get himself out of this situation. 

 

Anyone. Just anyone. Please help. Kihyun doesn't want to die. Not yet, not  _now_.

 

Wonho's natural bitch-resting-face seems to borehole into the poor young man as he nods thoughtfully. "That's what I thought. You can see me. You could see me fifteen years ago, and now you still do."

 

 _Fuck_ , Kihyun, feels like he's about to cry. He tries his best looking at everywhere, but that ugly black hat. Those saltwater drops could have been pouring onto his eyelashes without notice, and he's definitely not trying to look like a crybaby, but what would you suppose to do when you facing a Grim Reaper? Especially the one who has been chasing you down since birth.  _What kind of dog day is this?_ He should have checked the date before stepping outside. He is so scared to death that he can't even fucking move his legs.

 

Kihyun blames this one the goblin.

 

He tries to run,  _really_ , only to be stopped in a flash of the man in black, and he instantly stands in front of him. Kihyun yelps, he drops himself to the ground painfully by surprised but couldn't get his sense back to rub on the swollen spot of his butt. He shakingly breathes to compose himself. Slowly gets up, Kihyun decides to talk to stretch more time.  _One minute is better than none._

 

"I know you know I can see you."

 

"It seems like you moved around a lot. But that doesn't matter because I found you." the Grim Reaper smiles at him wickedly. "I spent so much time just to look for you."

 

"Then stop looking for me." 

 

"What?"

 

"Stop looking for me then. In this generation, you called it ' _stalking._ ' Do you know that? I'm gonna sue you. You don't even have my name on the list, and you want to take me away? How are you going to fill in my information?"

 

"I do." Wonho confidently responds, "you're in the missing souls' list. Although it will be a hassle to look through those documents again after twenty-six years, it is a part of my job."

 

"T-Then, what is going to happen to me?" Kihyun asks frighteningly, his emotions change in a heartbeat, "Am I really going to die? I-I'm still too young to die."

 

"Right, but everyone dies, even if they're nine or ten. That's life. And that is also death. You can't go against your fate, kid." The Grim shakes his head, 

 

"But whom on earth are you with at this time?" says the Grim Reaper, except, he turns his head to the right side of the short young man, staring at the tall man who stands behind the small body.

 

Kihyun realizes that Shownu has stood behind him throughout the conversation. And even though he knows the man is mean, grumpy, and a tsundere, all he thinks is to run to him and hides behind those mighty shoulders. At least the goblin is trustworthy.

 

Shownu pulls the tiny figure away from him and shakes his head, "It's okay, we're housemates."

 

"H-housemates?" Kihyun stutters. Out of everything that can happen, they are  _housemates_ ? _What in the world?_

 

"What in the world?" Kihyun yelps out loud unconsciously before he can stop himself, earning a sympathetic nod from both men. "Indeed, what in the world," Wonho replies this time. "But it's not like I want to live-"

 

The grim doesn't even get to finish his sentence, as Shownu tenderly ties his hand together with Kihyun and blocks him from the black-suited man.

"-You must be working right now."

 

"I am. But I don't understand what are you doing." annoying at the sudden abruption, Wonho raises his eyebrow.

 

"I am meddling with a human's life and death."

 

"Exactly, and you're making a huge mistake. This boy was due twenty-six years ago."

 

Shownu smashes the ground with a lightning arrow that magically pops up from his hand suddenly; the motion creates a huge crackling hole through the cement surface, and in a brief second, his eyes turn red. "Do I look like I'm joking to you? Take my words seriously, or the next person I'm going to meddle with life, and death, is you."

 

Kihyun feels like he's going to faint in any second. "L-Let's run first. We can sort this out later, ahjussi, yeah?" He pats on the goblin's shoulder softly, but the man doesn't listen.

 

"It's okay, he can't take someone who wants to marry a goblin."  _What?_  Kihyun widens his eyes, but Shownu is still looking at the Grim Reaper. "Especially not on his watch."

 

But Kihyun isn't the only one who is surprised by this information. Albeit his robotic expression, Wonho looks at both of them in wonder. "Don't tell me he is..."

 

_Fuck, this is my only chance._

 

"Yes, I am. It's me. I am that famous goblin's bride. What are you going to do? Take me away?" Kihyun speaks with more volume now that he sees how hesitates the black-suited man is. This news must have some impact on him. But he is still afraid that this might be the last day of his.

 

Wonho quietly observing both of them, with Shownu's unbothered appearance and Kihyun nervously clings onto the man like his life depends on it  _(it does.)_  Hand-in-hand tightly and protective. And Wonho gives up. He caresses out a headshake and bites his lips, "I guess I'm the bad guy here. You own me this one Shownu, We'll talk later." Shownu nods as a confirmation, "It looks like I'll see you more often now, Yoo Kihyun. It was nice meeting you." And he disappears.

 

Kihyun releases the breath that he has been holding on the entire time, relieved, eyes still watering from all the stressful events. He tries to inhale deep breaths, although that doesn't seem to calm down his curiosity and frustration. Shownu stares at him with The Look, as if he can read his mind. "Say something, ask, I know you have lots of questions right now."

 

"See. You are a goblin. I knew it. Why did you lie to me?" Kihyun sniffs, 

 

"At first, I think I would never see you again. But you followed me through that door. Nobody has been entered that door beside me."

 

"What about after? I asked you many times if you are a goblin, and you still said no."

 

"I didn't feel the need to correct myself. You are not, and never will be the goblin's bride." Shownu's voice is so stern, making the young man shivers under its harshness.

 

"Then...W-What am I? Ghosts approach me every day, rambling about some goblin. If I ignore them, they harass me. If I talk to them, they cling to me. The Grim Reaper said I was supposed to die, but I'm still alive and well. What exactly am I?" Kihyun is so angry, he doesn't give a fuck if he's dying or not anymore. The man is making him feels as if he's in pain. And it hurts, hearing the next sentence as "You shouldn't be asking me that, it's your burden, not mine. I won't be agreeing on you being my bridge as long as you don't see anything on me."

 

"B-Burden? Hah." He doesn't even realize that teardrops have flowed down to his red cheeks. 

 

"HAH!" Kihyun whips them away harshly, the hard fabric brushes though the soft cheeks, leaving a red mark behind those trails. "Just because I said I don't see it doesn't mean I really don't see it, you jerk!" He screams angrily, surprised Shownu a bit with his tantrum.

 

"See what?"

 

"It's right there!" 

 

"What?"

 

"It's right there, you fucker! The damn sword. It's right there on your chest!" 

 

_What? H-he does see it?_

 

"Fuck you!" Kihyun yells at him for the last time, before angrily running to the endless crowds.

 

Never has he knew Shownu has fucked up so much in his immortal life. 


End file.
